Ireland set to tender for floating hotels to house asylum seekers

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a closed down Debenhams department store where a homeless tent is seen in front of it's doors in Dublin, Ireland, March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is planning to tender for floating hotels and ships to house asylum seekers, the government said on Wednesday, as it struggles to accommodate an unprecedented number of arrivals amid a years-long housing crisis.

Close to 100,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine and other conflicts have arrived in Ireland in the last year, a 25-fold increase on the average number seeking international protection in previous years.