Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 December 2025
624. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his Department’s policy for the collection, verification, retention and publication of incident data relating to International Protection Accommodation Services facilities; including the basis on which the Department determines what incident categories fall within its statutory responsibility; and what information is held for oversight and reporting purposes. [69568/25]
View answer625. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his Department’s governance framework for incident reporting and escalation within International Protection Accommodation Services facilities, including the procedures used by facility operators to notify the Department of serious incidents and the Department’s role in auditing or validating those reports. [69569/25]
View answer626. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to provide, for each month from 1 January 2025 to 31 August 2025, the number of incidents notified to his Department by operators of a facility (details supplied) disaggregated by the Department’s incident-reporting categories; and if this data underwent internal review for completeness and accuracy. [69570/25]
View answer627. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his Department’s policy on inter-agency information-sharing for International Protection Accommodation Services facilities, including agreements or protocols with An Garda Síochána concerning the exchange of incident data, risk assessments or safety alerts, and to confirm whether any memoranda of understanding or standard operating procedures are currently in place. [69571/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 624, 625, 626 and 627 together.
The safety and wellbeing of all residents and staff in our accommodation centres is a priority for the Department and all International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) teams.
IPAS is always available to deal with any complaints from residents and residents are encouraged to engage with IPAS if they are unhappy with any aspect of their accommodation.
Where a complaint is significant in nature or a resident is not comfortable raising a complaint with a centre manager, they may make the complaint directly, or through a representative authorised to act on their behalf, to the IPAS Customer Service Team.
Guidelines are in place for IPAS staff and Department officials in relation to responding quickly to any incidents, taking action to ensure people are safe. This includes reporting to An Garda Siochana if this is necessary.
When any incident occurs, IPAS teams and centre management and staff work to ensure that residents involved can be supported, and that staff are trained and ready to respond in the right way, seeking support from officials and other agencies as needed.
Staff and centre management are also equipped to support other people affected, including any family members or friends of the resident in the centre.
Critical incidents are events that happen in a centre that are outside the normal range of experience and may lead to significant injury, property damage or even death.
Incidents that arise in centres are defined and set out in IPAS policies, from a broad scale of general, minor incidents that include petty theft or damage to property, complaints about behaviour or noise, to include incidents considered critical in that they relate mental health or self-harm incidents, violence towards staff or residents, or the unexpected death of a resident.
IPAS_Critical_Incident_Policy.pdf
www.assets.gov.ie/static/documents/09fe3ad4/3._IPAS_Critical_Incident_Policy.pdf
If a critical incident occurs in a centre, centre management will assess the situation and alert emergency services as appropriate. Critical incident staff training is provided to staff working in IPAS accommodation centres. They are given examples of what constitutes a critical incident and what to do to respond.
Critical Incidents
|
- |
2025 (to end Oct 2025) |
|
Mental Health/self-harm |
28 |
|
Violence towards staff/others |
11 |
|
Deaths on-site |
2 |
|
Other |
20 |
|
Total |
61 |
Information on the location of incidents is not reported in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of resident information.
