This footage was filmed and produced 7 September 2023.

Ireland’s minister for integration Roderic O’Gorman has said he cannot rule out the use of tented accommodation in the future as the government faces pressure ahead of the autumn period.

Refugees being housed in tents at the site of music festival Electric Picnic – which hosted 70,000 revellers at the Stradbally site in Co Laois at the weekend – are among the 500 people seeking international protection from Ireland who are being placed in such accommodation.

The Government had also asked the National Ploughing Championships to accommodate people after its event at the end of September, but organisers said it had no camping area and the Ratheniska land would be needed for farming.

Mr O’Gorman said the government was always going to face a “pinch point” at this time of year, but there has also been an increase over the summer in the number of Ukrainian nationals arriving in Ireland.

The Green Party TD also said that almost 3,000 refugees had been moved out of student accommodation ahead of the academic year, but that most hotel contracts are rolling over.

He said it was “difficult” to project how many more refugees would arrive by the end of the year.