Latest news with #InternationalProtection
RTÉ News
8 hours ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
High cost of IP housing 'not sustainable'
The Minister of State for Migration has acknowledged the high costs of providing accommodation for International Protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees, which he said was "neither sustainable nor acceptable in the long term". The State spent more than €401m on accommodation for International Protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees in the first three months of the year. That is according to new figures released by the former Department of Integration detailing its spending for the first quarter of 2025. In a statement, Minister Colm Brophy said the State had engaged in a series of actions to reduce these costs. He said this includes: "The purchase of State-owned facilities which will reduce costs and save the State 100s of millions in a relatively short period of time. "The renegotiation downwards of existing contracts with IPAS and Ukrainian accommodation providers. "The introduction of legislation this autumn will drastically shorten the length of time people stay in the system. This will reduce the overall costs of accommodation in the years ahead." The €401m figure is down on last year's quarterly spends on such accommodation, which ranged from €424m to €490m. Paying for private sector accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers made up 97% of the department's purchase order spends of €20,000 or more detailed in the Department report. While hundreds of providers are in receipt of Government payments, 91 were paid more than €1m in the first quarter of the year, and together the top five brought in €52.5m. Commenting on the figures, Nick Henderson, the CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, said it had always been concerned about money going straight to private providers. He said the Government's purchase of Citywest could be a step in the right direction and was likely to be better value for money for the taxpayer. The Citywest campus has been central to the Government's International Protection and Ukrainian refugee accommodation provision over the last number of years. However, Mr Henderson said this did not necessarily mean it would be a better-run facility. He said the IRC also had concerns that the border procedure, under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, could be based in the future at Citywest. The IRC would also like to see an expansion of the remit of HIQA, which only has inspection powers for longer-term accommodation, expanded to include emergency accommodation.
RTÉ News
17 hours ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
What do State spending figures on refugee and asylum accommodation tell us?
The State spent more than €401 million on accommodation for International Protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees in the first three months of this year. That's according to new figures released by the former Department of Integration detailing its spending for the first quarter of 2025. It's an eye-watering amount of money but it is down on last year's quarterly spends on such accommodation, which ranged from €424m to €490m. Paying for private sector accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers made up 97% of the Department's purchase order spends of €20,000 or more detailed in the report. While hundreds of providers are in receipt of Government payments, 91 were paid more than €1m in the first quarter of this year, and together the top five brought in €52.5m. The Government has said it wants to move away from its reliance on the private and commercial sector when it comes to accommodating refugees and asylum seekers. To this end, the Minister for Justice announced this week that the Cabinet had signed off on his plan to buy Citywest, a campus that has been central to its International Protection and Ukrainian refugee accommodation provision over the last number of years. Jim O'Callaghan announced that the State would buy the hotel and convention centre for the sum of €148.2m, describing it as "value for money". Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited operates Citywest and over the last couple of years it was the State's top earner when it came to these accommodation contracts. Last year it secured €70.86m in accommodation payments from the State, and it was at the top of the table once more in the first quarter of this year, getting paid €18.7m - almost double what the next best paid accommodation provider received. Mr O'Callaghan said that "purchasing Citywest makes prudent financial sense for the State compared to costs of leasing the site" however it appears that there will still be some invoices forthcoming even after the sale. According to the Department of Justice there will be a "a transition plan with the current service provider for a period of 12 months to ensure there is no disruption to the accommodation services at the site." A statement added that "the service provider will continue to oversee the management and provision of services including catering, cleaning, maintenance and security, resident check-in, operational support, finance and other services." The Department of Integration's quarterly purchase order report sheds some light on the current spend on additional Citywest expenses paid in January, February and March this year, including over €709,000 on security and €580,000 on meals. In total, in the first quarter of this year the State spent over €267m on accommodation and related costs for International Protection applicants and almost €133m for Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection. Separately the Department also spent almost €1.7m on modular accommodation for International Protection applicants in the first quarter of 2025. These figures are all inclusive of VAT. After Citywest operator Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, Mosney Holidays PLC, was the next best paid accommodation provider in the first three months of 2025. It was paid €9.7m for providing international protection accommodation at the former holiday resort in Co Meath. The third highest paid provider was Holiday Inn Dublin Airport, which was paid €8.5m. Over January, February and March, the report shows Travelodge Hotels, operated by Smorgs ROI Management Limited, were paid over €8m. However, in this period there were also payments amounting to €3.6m made directly to Tifco Ltd which runs Travelodge Hotels among others, and of almost €1.85m made to Pumkinspice Ltd, which also operates a Travelodge Hotel in Dublin City Centre. Rounding out the top five earners in the first quarter of 2025, East Coast Catering, which owns a number of hotels, was paid almost €7.5m. Last year saw a record number of people seeking Protection in Ireland, 18,561. However fewer asylum seekers are doing so this year. Last year 9,199 people had sought asylum in Ireland by 31 May, compared to 5,037 in the same period this year. But there's no denying that there a real demand for accommodation for asylum seekers. As of the 4 May this year there were 32,934 people, including 9,442 children, living in International Protection accommodation. For more than two years now most male asylum seekers who seek international protection in Ireland are not offered accommodation on arrival, with the Government citing an ongoing accommodation shortage. As of Monday, the Department of Justice said there were 2,987 asylum seekers awaiting an offer of accommodation by the State. Meanwhile, the number of Ukrainian refugees in State provided accommodation is down significantly from its peak of almost 60,000 at the end of 2023. Since then, the State has limited free accommodation provision for new arrivals to three months and has cut supports for those in hotel style accommodation. As of 1 June, there were 23,599 Ukrainian refugees in State provided accommodation.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Tents belonging to asylum seekers on Grand Canal slashed
Up to ten tents belonging to International Protection applicants were slashed at a makeshift camp on the Grand Canal in Dublin. Volunteers who support the men said their sleeping bags were also stolen yesterday, adding that they are growing increasingly concerned about the men's safety. Volunteer Catherine Hall said there had been around 17 men sleeping in tents on the banks of the Grand Canal the previous evening, and the camp had been tidied away the following morning. Some of those who had been rough sleeping on Tuesday evening were offered accommodation yesterday, but Ms Hall said a group of around eight or nine homeless IP applicants returned to the site yesterday evening to their tents slashed and their sleeping bags stolen. She said some of the men told the volunteers that "some guys came around threatening that they had to leave" earlier in the day. Ms Hall said the IP applicants had to sleep there again as there was nowhere else for them to go. However, she said they did not get much sleep, "because they were pretty anxious about the whole thing". She said there have been incidents of threats and intimidation before. She added that there are anti-immigration groups who have been "setting up these patrols, and they're basically looking to try and find where the guys are camping" and posting these videos on social media. Chief Executive of the Irish Refugee Council Nick Henderson said the charity is "deeply concerned about the situation of people seeking protection who are sleeping rough". "In recent weeks, there has been a tangible increase in risk: tents have been slashed, camping spaces fenced off, and social media posts have circulated showing tents being filmed, accompanied by inflammatory commentary and threatening symbols such as flames," Mr Henderson said. "In effect, the system requires people to sleep rough in order to demonstrate eligibility for accommodation, exposing them to serious harm. It also places enormous pressure on volunteers, who have supported people almost continuously for over two years," Mr Henderson added. He stressed that figures released in response to a parliamentary question show that 1,400 people were refused accommodation upon arrival in the first four months of this year. "While some may have been accommodated later, the fact remains: sleeping rough is never safe. We again call on the government to fulfil its legal obligations and support those seeking protection," he said.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Tents belonging to asylum seekers at Grand Canal slashed
Up to ten tents belonging to International Protection applicants were slashed at a make-shift camp on the Grand Canal. Volunteers who support the men said their sleeping bags were also stolen yesterday, and said they are growing increasingly concerned about the men's safety. Volunteer Catherine Hall said there had been around 17 men sleeping in tents on the banks of the Grand Canal the previous evening, and the camp had been tidied away the following morning. Some of those who had been rough sleeping on Tuesday evening were offered accommodation yesterday, but Ms Hall said a group of around eight or nine homeless IP applicants returned to the site yesterday evening to their tents slashed and their sleeping bags stolen. She said some of the men told the volunteers that "some guys came around threatening that they had to leave" earlier in the day. Ms Hall said the IP applicants had to sleep there again as there was nowhere else for them to go. However, she said they did not get much sleep, "because they were pretty anxious about the whole thing". She said there have been incidents of threats and intimidation before. She added that there are anti-immigration groups who have been "setting up these patrols, and they're basically looking to try and find where the guys are camping" and posting these videos on social media.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Tents belonging to asylum seekers in Grand Canal slashed
Up to 10 tents belonging to rough sleeping International Protection (IP) applicants were slashed at a make-shift camp on the Grand Canal. Volunteers who support the men said their sleeping bags were also stolen yesterday, and said they are growing increasingly concerned about the men's safety. Volunteer Catherine Hall said there had been around 17 men sleeping on the banks of the Grand Canal the previous evening, and the camp had been tidied away the following morning. Some of those who had been rough sleeping on Tuesday evening were offered accommodation yesterday, but Ms Hall said a group of around eight or nine homeless IP applicants returned to the site yesterday evening to their tents slashed and their sleeping bags stolen. She said some of the men told the volunteers that "some guys came around threatening that they had to leave" earlier in the day. Ms Hall said the IP applicants had to sleep there again as there was nowhere else for them to go. However she said they didn't get much sleep, "because they were pretty anxious about the whole thing". Ms Hall stressed that there have been incidents of threats and intimidation before. She added that there are anti-immigration groups who have been "setting up these patrols, and they're basically looking to try and find where the guys are camping" and posting these videos on social media.
