In an East Wall asylum shelter, allegations of misconduct highlight wider questions around appropriate staff hiring

In April 2023, a community group in East Wall flagged concerns about alleged staff misconduct at the local asylum shelter.

In its letter to the Department of Children and Equality, East Wall Here for All accused two staff members of inappropriate relationships with women living in the old ESB office block on East Wall Road, show documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

In an email dated 2 May 2023, a staff member at Fuel, the event management company running the shelter at the time, told the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) that it had immediately suspended the two staff members and had launched an investigation into the allegations.

Shortly after the suspension, one of the staffers resigned and “for unrelated commercial reasons” the other was let go from his job, says the email from the company. “Both employees were not finished their probation.”

The investigation was then dropped as the complainants were satisfied and didn’t want to revisit the issue, it says. “They as a group were very satisfied that the matter is concluded and dealt with.”

The company itself was no longer involved with the centre by the time of that email, the email says.

Fuel did not respond to queries sent by email on 19 February, including those asking about its response to the nature of accusations and whether it had relevant experience to run an asylum shelter.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Equality said it hadn’t directly contracted Fuel to run the Two Gateway building, the private accommodation providers had as is the case at all asylum shelters. The agreement between the parties has now ended, they said.

They did not respond to a query asking if there are more event-management companies managing other accommodation at the moment.

Fiona Hurley, CEO of migrants-rights non-profit NASC, says she’s not surprised by the allegations. Staff misconduct does happen in asylum shelters, said Hurley.

That said,“increasingly, we have found that residents are reluctant to make complaints for fear of reprisal from centre management”, said Hurley, speaking generally rather than about any particular centre.

There are wider issues around hiring practices at asylum-seeker accommodation too as the department continues to scramble to set up shelter for asylum-seekers arriving in Ireland.

Issues like whether those working in accommodation centres have the training to deal with vulnerable residents, and also whether practices around hiring asylum seekers themselves to staff centres creates a complex and unwelcome dynamic.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Equality said that IPAS – the government office in charge of housing asylum seekers and refugees – has a complaints process for residents.

If they’re not happy with how their grievances were handled, they can go to the Office of the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children, the spokesperson said.

Choosing silence

The Two Gateway Building on East Wall Road was an empty office block before it was opened as an emergency asylum shelter in November 2022, amidst protests against housing asylum seekers in the neighbourhood.

The East Wall centre holds nearly 480 people, including 62 kids,say IPAS figures.

Staff include cleaners, a duty manager, a senior manager, and security guards around the clock, documents suggest.

Lucky Khambule of the grassroots asylum-seeker advocacy group, Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), says that allegations of inappropriate behaviour by male staff at the East Wall centre were shared with MASI last year.

It takes a lot for people to speak up as they worry about being shuttled to another place, he says. “Because people have already established themselves, they’re working, they’re studying.”

Said Hurley, the CEO of NASC: “This fear leaves residents vulnerable to exploitation or inappropriate behaviour.”

One issue is that staff at IPAS-contracted emergency centres are often hospitality workers without any social-care education or training on how to deal with traumatised people living in cramped quarters, said Hurley, speaking generally.

“We strongly believe that all staff working in accommodation centres should, at a minimum, receive safeguarding training,” she said. They should be vetted too if children live at the centre, said Hurley.

Fuel didn’t respond to email queries asking if its staff in East Wall were garda vetted and what training they had had to deal with vulnerable children and adults.

A spokesperson for IPAS also said that by law, given the nature of their work, staff at the accommodation centres have to be garda-vetted before they can start the job.

As IPAS doesn’t hire staff for these accommodation centres, ensuring staff have been vetted isn’t its responsibility, said the department spokesperson.

It “is a matter for employers in these commercial settings to manage for their direct employees or volunteers,” they said.

Khambule of MASI also says that when residents complain to IPAS or higher up to the Office of the Ombudsman, anonymity should be guaranteed.

“The ombudsman needs to protect the people that have raised concerns with them,” he said.

It is possible to file an anonymous complaint to the ombudsman, says a guidance document on its website. “Where there is sufficient information provided to enable the service provider to investigate the case,” it says.

Leaving the fold

Another issue that has cropped up at East Wall and elsewhere, says Khambule of MASI, is managers’ practice of hiring asylum seekers to work at centres where they live.

It breeds mistrust and division among residents, he says.

MASI has WhatsApp group chats where residents often relay unease about managers and strategise on how to deal with issues as they arise. It’s hard for people to speak freely if some on the chat are on the staff payroll, he says.

“The group chats are for the benefit of residents, not for the management, and we will be talking about the management of a specific centre,” he says.

It hurts solidarity, Khambule says.

It also undermines the privacy of residents, he says. “They get first-hand information about you that you might not want a fellow resident to know.”

Just recently, he said, an asylum seeker kept getting congratulatory texts from residents at her centre while at work. “To tell her that she’s got her papers.”

A resident worker had picked up a letter meant for her and misinterpreted its content and the word travelled, said Khambule.

The woman went back to the centre full of hopes that were later shattered. “The letter had nothing to do with her getting her papers, okay?” says Khambule.

It was just an invitation to a second asylum interview, he says.

Khambule says it would be better if people got jobs in asylum centres they don’t live in, but doesn’t see even that as the real solution.

If the job involves acting as a superior to people sharing the same hardships as you, you shouldn’t do it, said Khambule.

“Unless a person is a chef, works at the back in the kitchen dealing with cooking and not everyday affairs of asylum seekers,” he said.

There is something insidious about believing that you’re on the other side when you really aren’t, he said. “It gets into your head.”