When public health inspectors visited the Mount Street asylum seekers’ encampment in Dublin, they discovered that used toilet paper had clogged street drains, heard that rats had been scuttling around throughout the day and were alerted to a serious danger of infectious disease transmission, reports Breaking News.
The HSE health protection team reported that as seagulls and other birds rummaged through food waste at the location, the asylum seekers living there were forced to use the streets as makeshift restrooms at night.
When the campsite was removed, the HSE officials discovered there were 273 persons living there, despite their initial belief that there were only 200, reports Breaking News.
The public health team saw “open defecation, faeces, including diarrhoea” during the inspection, which happened in late April.
Trash was visible all around the camp, and clogged drains were caused by used toilet paper.
According to the public health assessment that was made available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, staff members from the Department of Justice had observed rodents at the location, even during the day. Because they are disease carriers, rats and birds increase the danger, reports Breaking News.
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The closely spaced tents and potential for more contamination made it difficult to utilise power hoses to clean the site.
There were also worries expressed about the possibility of drug waste, particularly used needles, spreading “blood-borne viruses” at the location.
Even the most fundamental public health requirements, such as having access to clean water, sanitary facilities, and efficient waste disposal, were allegedly lacking, according to the report.
The statement went on to say: “These people’s stresses are compounded by the physical, psychosocial, and emotional pressures brought on by inadequate shelter and a lack of security, seriously impairing their health, well-being, and capacity to heal,” reports Breaking News.
It claimed that the encampment posed a risk to the public’s health for everyone around, including individuals who did not live in tents but rather work there.
According to the study, tents were typically tiny, with additional shelter provided by “larger heavy-duty tarpaulins” over them.
It added: “The physical, psychosocial and emotional pressures caused by a lack of security and poor shelter compound the stresses experienced by these people, significantly undermining their health and well-being, and ability to recover,” reports Breaking News.
The inspection said: “We did not enter any of the tents. The tents are, in the main, in close proximity to each other with little or no room between them,” reports Breaking News.
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