The Department of Justice says a video posted online appearing to show 11 people sharing ten beds at a direct provision centre "appears to have been staged".
Management at the East End Hotel in Portarlington, County Laois says residents of the centre moved themselves from their assigned rooms into the one shown.
71 asylum applicants being housed there on an emergency basis are sharing 19 rooms, with up to six people in some.
The Department of Justice says emergency accommodation is not representative of the overall housing system for asylum applicants.
