Blocking the opening of new asylum seeker centres pushes more people out onto the streets in freezing temperatures, the Irish Refugee Council has warned.

Overnight, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urged people protesting against asylum seeker accommodation to "consider the impact of their actions" as the number of new arrivals left without anywhere to stay reached an all-time high.

Figures released by the Department of Integration yesterday showed that 601 international protection applicants have not been offered any accommodation since arriving.

Both the UNHCR and the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) are warning about the dangers of people sleeping rough with low temperature and ice warnings in place.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, IRC Chief Nick Henderson said the protesters come from a range of “different backgrounds and motivations”.

He urged them to remember that without more asylum centres, more people will be forced to sleep out in the cold.

“I think some people, unfortunately, on the very edge of this debate would be pleased to hear this, unfortunately,” he said.

“But I think there are people who are worried; people who see something changing in their community who … feel that they have the best of intentions, but they might may not know that what they're doing does have an effect beyond this immediate situation.

“In other words, resisting and opposing accommodation being opened, even if it's scheduled to be for families, can have a knock-on elsewhere.

“One of the consequences of this is that it makes it very difficult for the Government to open accommodation and that means that there's now more than 600 people on the streets, homeless and without accommodation, which is of huge concern to us.”

The number of international protection applicants without State-provided accommodation is now 601, according to latest figures from the Department of Integration.

Since December 4th, 776 new arrivals have not been accommodated at one stage, with 88 of these being subsequently… pic.twitter.com/9n2CQdVW88

— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) January 16, 2024

On Monday, Gardaí had to hold back protesters in Roscrea as 17 women and children arrived at the Racket Hall Hotel, which has been repurposed as asylum seeker accommodation.

Many of the protesters are locals expressing concern about a lack of resources in the area; however, on the show earlier this morning, journalist Allison O’Reilly said there are people arriving into the town ‘in their carloads’ to egg them on and create trouble for Gardaí.

Protesters, meanwhile, have accused Gardaí of heavy-handed tactics - and insisted they were never told that women and children would be arriving.

Mr Henderson said it is important to remember that communities across Ireland have welcomed “quite significant numbers of people” over the last 18 months.

“I think what we saw in Roscrea, even though people demonstrating might say that they either weren't involved or didn't want it to be like that, the idea that women and children had to receive a police escort and were being videoed and were being commented at was appalling,” he said.

Asylum seeker protesters at the Racket Hall hotel in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, 15-01-2024. Image: PA Images / Alamy

He said the protesters were told there would be women and children arriving before the scuffles broke out.

“If they wanted to stay, they should set themselves further away, and I'm not saying all people involved in that demonstration did that, but the footage that we've seen does have people very close to the guards, videoing and commenting,” he said.

“There were reports of a child being visibly upset being brought in and then certainly being upset after they were brought into the hotel.

“So from our perspective, there's a clear line between opposing the opening of a place prior to it being opened, engaging with your representatives and then that line is crossed when people - not everybody but people - would be filming, commenting and indeed sometimes shouting.

“That's a red line that's been crossed.”

The Racket Hall hotel in Roscrea in Co Tipperary. Image: Google Maps

It comes after new figures showed that western counties have taken in the highest proportion of asylum seekers in Ireland.

Counties Donegal, Mayo and Kerry have taken in the highest number pr capita, according to the figures.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has promised to send ‘extra resources’ to the areas most ‘under pressure’  due to the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers being accommodated.

You can listen back to Mr Henderson here: