As advised to the Deputy previously, a breakdown of data relating to payments to private or commercial accommodation providers, expenditure on State-owned accommodation, ancillary service costs, and administrative costs in the format referred to is not collated or readily available.
There is full transparency from the Department in terms of providers receiving payments, with details of all payments over €20,000 and the recipients published quarterly online at Gov.ie here: www.gov.ie/en/collection/dfdadb-department-of-children-and-youth-affairs-purchase-orders-for-20000-o/[]
All expenditure relating to this service is subject to review by the Comptroller and Auditor General. During 2024 and 2025, the Department worked closely with the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) in carrying out an extensive review of costs and processes within the international protection accommodation system.
This was published in September 2025 as part of the C&AG’s annual report for 2024 and is available online here: www.audit.gov.ie/en/find-report/publications/2025/10-management-of-international-protection-accommodation-contracts.pdf
All recommendations in the report have been accepted and implemented by the Department, with implementation of one recommendation being further developed into 2026.
International protection applications reduced in 2025 after several years of growth, allowing greater controls to be put in place across the IPAS accommodation portfolio. IPAS has put improved processes in place for appraisal, validation, contracting, and payments.
The introduction of a new rate card model is driving costs down for new and renewed contracts, and I am pleased to note this has already saved approximately €77 million in 2025. This reform within the accommodation system has laid the basis for continued process improvement and costs savings in 2026.
