The Central Hotel on Exchequer Street in Dublin will be housing refugees

A new direct provision centre has been opened in the Central Hotel in Dublin city centre to ensure asylum seekers can follow social distancing measures to combat Covid-19.

Remcoll Capital, the company behind the direct provision centres in Ballinamore and Cahirciveen, has begun moving refugees from across the country to the vacant hotel on Exchequer Street.

The move is a part of a broader effort by the Department of Justice to ensure there is appropriate social distancing in place across the direct provision centres. On Tuesday, the department announced it had secured 650 new beds.

Refugees are coming from across the country to the new centre, which will be in place for six months initially. There are 70 rooms on the site and it will