In February 2021 A White Paper to End Direct Provision and establish a new International Protection Service was published. The paper set out a new approach for accommodating applicants that seek International Protection in Ireland and contains three core themes – accommodation, integration and supports. There is a legal obligation on the state to meet the requirements under the EU Recast Reception Conditions Directive to provide accommodation to all who request it.
In 2022 and 2023 Ireland experienced unprecedented numbers of new IP arrivals with over 26,900. To put this in context the total number of applications received in 2022 and 2023 (26,900) is greater than the total received over the preceding eight year period, 2013-2021 (23,369). These very significant arrival numbers have continued in 2024, with over 15,405 IPs applying for IPAS accommodation up to 20th October.
Because of these extreme challenges in providing accommodation, there was a recognition that the underlying assumptions on which the White Paper was based required re-assessment, as the assumptions underpinning it are based on 3500 new arrivals each year. The context of the accommodation challenge over the past 3 years as outline above formed the rationale for the review.
On the 27th March 2024 Government agreed a new Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy (CAS) for International Protection applicants. The strategy seeks to address the current accommodation shortfall, while reforming the system over the longer term to ensure the State will always be able to meet its international commitments.
Accommodation in the new strategy will be delivered through the following multi-strand approach:
1. Use of State land for prefabricated and modular units
2. Conversion of commercial buildings
3. Targeted purchase of medium and larger turnkey properties
4. Design and build of new Reception and Integration Centres
5. Upgrading of IPAS Centres
The multi-strand approach focuses on both increasing State owned permanent capacity, and the upgrading of additional contingency accommodation, developed to specific national standards, to build an effective system to meet the new realities of increasing need while enabling the State to discharge its duty to meet the material reception conditions of IP Applicants, according to the guiding principles of the White Paper.
In order to deal with the demand led nature of the system, the commissioning of emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be a feature in the short to medium term. This accommodation will be contracted on shorter-term basis and if application numbers drop, can be decommissioned as contracts expire. It is planned that as new State owned and permanent commercial accommodation comes on stream the use of this emergency accommodation will reduce.
Once sufficient State owned accommodation has been delivered over the coming years, and emergency accommodation reduced substantially, the Government may, at that point, seek to reduce further the proportion of remaining permanent accommodation delivered by commercial providers and move to a fully or predominately State owned system.
In terms of new accommodation numbers the table below details the proposed various accommodation types, capacity and ownership.
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Accommodation Type
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Bed Capacity
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Ownership
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Reception and Integration Centres and Accommodation Centres, at or above national standards
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Up to 13,000
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State Owned
|
|
In-Community Accommodation for vulnerable persons, at or above national standards
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Up to 1,000
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State Owned, operated in partnership with NGOs.
|
|
Contingency Accommodation, at national standards
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Up to 11,000
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Commercial Providers
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|
Emergency Accommodation
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Up to 10,000
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Commercial Providers
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Over the last six months the department has been focused on progressing the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy with the prioritisation of particular elements of the multi-strand approach.
A lot of engagement has taken place to identify and negotiate the use of State-owned sites for emergency tented accommodation and potentially longer-term solutions. To date five sites have been licensed to the department including Crooksling, River Lodge, Heatherside (HSE), Thornton Hall (IPS) and Lissywoolen, Athlone (OPW). Tented accommodation has been stood up on Crooksling and River Lodge with Thornton Hall and Athlone to be occupied over the coming weeks and months.
The delivery of prefabricated and modular units on state lands has been prioritised by the department as a vehicle that can quickly deliver accommodation at national standards. The first project under this programme is the delivery of 40 modular units to replace tents on the Columb Barracks site. The current delivery timelines for this project is partial handover in mid-October with full-handover by mid-December 2024.
To build on this work a procurement process to form a framework for the delivery of modular/prefabricated units on other state lands has been launched. The tender process is at assessment stage with results to issue shortly.
An Expression of Interest (EOI) process was launched on the 30th April 2024 by the Department for the sourcing of suitable properties for acquisition or lease. 93 submissions have been received to date. A team of technical experts has been mobilised to assess the viability of submissions received and prioritise properties that could be available in the short-term.
In addition work is ongoing to identify supply pipelines for commercial conversions, including empty office buildings, assessment of state owned properties for suitability to refurbish and engaging on the acquisition of some large scale properties that have come to the department through direct sourcing.
While this Department is progressing implementation of the CAS, with respect to maintaining a negotiating position at the early stage of acquiring lands and/or buildings, it is not possible to release information on the expected or proposed costs of delivering state owned accommodation, as such data is commercially sensitive and its release could compromise the Department’s ability to achieve best value on behalf of the State.
The average cost of State-owned accommodation is as set out below:
State Owned Accommodation – Average Costs Per Person Per Day – 2021 - 2024
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Year
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Average
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2021
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€24.48
|
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2022
|
€28.30
|
|
2023
|
€26.95
|
|
2024 (to June)
|
€23.60
|
