Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
251. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of IPAS centres and the number of IPAS residents associated with contracts for which the payment per bed per day are above €70; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54287/25]
View answerThe State is currently accommodating almost 33,000 people in 319 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres around the country, 9,500 of whom are children.
Significant reform is underway to speed up the international protection application processing system, and reduce the demand for accommodation. That includes moving away consistently, over time, from the emergency use of commercial accommodation and putting in place more facilities on State-owned sites.
The Department is also working to improve value for money by reviewing contracts and driving improvements in standards, governance and compliance. The introduction of a new rate card pricing model is driving costs down for new and renewed contracts, already saving over €52million since May 2025 on 104 contracts.
The information requested on new, renewed or existing contracts, and the prices agreed per contract as they relate to numbers of residents or sites, is considered commercially sensitive and is not available for publication. This is because providing the information could impede the Department's duty to achieve best value for money for services and contracts in active negotiation.
The average contracted nightly cost allows for fluctuations in the number of residents over time and also for varying types of accommodation configuration by centre and by contract. This cost is currently €71.
While information is not available for publication by centre, I can provide the Deputy with information on the average nightly contracted rate by county.
|
County |
Average nightly contracted rate per provider (€) |
|
Kildare |
92 |
|
Carlow |
91 |
|
Meath |
81 |
|
Dublin |
78 |
|
Louth |
77 |
|
Limerick |
75 |
|
Galway |
74 |
|
Leitrim |
73 |
|
Mayo |
72 |
|
Cork |
72 |
|
Sligo |
70 |
|
Letterkenny |
70 |
|
Laois |
69 |
|
Donegal |
69 |
|
Wicklow |
69 |
|
Wexford |
69 |
|
Waterford |
67 |
|
Monaghan |
67 |
|
Clare |
66 |
|
Roscommon |
66 |
|
Offaly |
65 |
|
Kerry |
60 |
|
Kilkenny |
60 |
|
Longford |
60 |
|
Cavan |
59 |
|
Tipperary |
59 |
|
Westmeath |
55 |
The average nightly contracted accommodation cost in 2025 is now calculated across nearly 320 accommodation centres, including State-owned and commercial accommodation. Contracted costs include accommodation and associated costs like facilities management, food, security, utilities etc.
