The Government has conceded that it may not be able to provide accommodation to all asylum seekers coming to Ireland.
Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman is working to identify new centres and new accommodation, the Dáil was told.
It comes after the Cabinet was told yesterday that a severe shortage of accommodation for those seeking asylum here must be addressed before the end of the week.
Speaking during Leaders' Questions, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said: "That includes tented accommodation, that is not what we would want but it is better to have a roof over people's heads."
However, Minister McEntee added: "There will be mitigation measures put in place if the Department is unable to provide accommodation for anyone. "
There had been real pressures on accommodation and 10,000 people had sought international protection over the past 11 months, Ms McEntee said.
She added the Government had done everything it could to find accommodation for people seeking international protection.
Minister McEntee said these were the "very people" that the "thugs and scumbags" were trying to intimidate in the riots last Thursday.
She was responding to Solidarity TD Mick Barry, who said: "I did not get the guarantee that people won't be forced to sleep rough."
He recalled an attack on asylum seekers whose tents were burned down on Sandwith Street in Dublin last May.
"All along you have underestimated the far-right," Mr Barry said.
Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said "we are in a very serious situation and could, potentially within days run out of accommodation options" for people seeking asylum in Ireland.
He said the Government does not want to see people who come here seeking international protection sleeping on the streets
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The problem around accommodation is "more acute" than was thought, the Irish Refugee Council Chief Executive Nick Henderson has said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said while it is never appropriate for anyone to ever sleep rough, the violence in Dublin last week makes it even more dangerous than before, adding that two IPAS centres were targeted during last Thursday's rioting.
"Considering what happened last week in Dublin... and the anti-immigration element involved, we say that it would be completely inappropriate and indeed a risk to people's safety if they did have to sleep rough again," he said.
Mr Henderson said other Government departments need to be involved.
"The Department of Children have led on this issue for the last 18 months and in our opinion, other Government departments need to begin playing their part.
"It's completely unacceptable that .. with the wealth and resources of Ireland, it cannot accommodate what is an increase in the number of people seeking protection over the last 18 months... what we believe is a very manageable number," he said.
More than 13,600 applications for international protection were made last year, a 415% increase from 2021 and a 186% increase from 2019, according to the latest figures from the European Migration Network Ireland.
