Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2024
539. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his views on the consolidation of accommodation portfolio for beneficiaries of temporary protection; if he will supply anonymised data for contracts terminated in each month of 2024, by county, in tabular form; the number of beds, and cost per bed per night for each contract terminated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41037/24]
View answerSince the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, my Department continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on providing access to emergency temporary accommodation to those fleeing the conflict who request it, in line with Government policy. This supports them to make longer term independent arrangements if they decide to remain in Ireland for the duration of the Temporary Protection Directive.
My Department aims to ensure that our portfolio of accommodation meets the evolving needs of the State’s response to the Ukraine Crisis.
In recent months we have seen decreases in arrivals from Ukraine to Ireland, decreases in those arriving who request accommodation from the State and greater numbers of Ukrainians who choose to move on from State accommodation.
As a result, my Department is currently seeking to consolidate and rationalise its BOTP accommodation portfolio to ensure greater compliance with standards and better value for money.
My Department has decided to prioritise ending contracts with non-compliant providers as part of this consolidation. While I cannot go into detail on specific compliance cases, compliance issues include but are not limited to:
• The health, safety and wellbeing of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection in state-supported emergency accommodation.
• Overcharging by providers for the provision of their accommodation.
• Unregulated secondary properties that were being utilised by providers.
• Private and residential properties that were being utilised and retained by the Department when further commercial properties were available.
It is not possible to provide the financial data that the Deputy has requested for each contract terminated due to the commercially sensitive nature of this information. A county breakdown for contracts terminated in each month since April of 2024 with the corresponding number of beds is provided below. The figures for each month January to March are not available in the format sought by the Deputy.
