Ireland is currently accommodating over 33,000 people seeking international protection in 311 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres around the country.
Extensive challenges have been posed to the State in sourcing international protection accommodation, particularly during an unprecedented surge in applications from 2022 to 2024.
Many of the impacts of this surge period remain in place at this time, though significant change is underway. IPAS remains unable to make an offer to all single male applicants for international protection due to accommodation shortages for this applicant group.
The limited number of available beds must be available as contingency for those who are most vulnerable on arrival, and for those who are rough-sleeping.
By way of background, from the end of 2023, accommodation shortages meant that not all applicants could be offered an accommodation place. From that period on, IPAS prioritised women, children and those who were most vulnerable for the limited accommodation available.
People who are not offered accommodation are given a weekly allowance of €113.80 per week, an increase of €75 from the standard weekly allowance for asylum-seekers.
Many applicants are able to make their own accommodation arrangements so not all those who are unaccommodated are rough-sleeping. IPAS has arrangements in place with a range of NGO partners to provide drop-in day services so people can access facilities including hot showers, meals and laundry services.
IPAS teams can currently make offers of accommodation to any applicant who is rough-sleeping, identified through outreach that is organised seven days a week.
While the demand for IPAS accommodation remains very high, the rate of increase in new applications for international protection has reduced.
This means that since March 2025, IPAS has been able to review the cases of people who are awaiting an offer of accommodation and make offers to those who have been waiting longest, using the information they have provided to the International Protection Office (IPO).
The review has reduced the number of unaccommodated people from over 3,500 in March to 534 in January 2026.
Depending on availability of spaces and numbers of new applicants, it is hoped to continue to make offers of accommodation to more people over the coming weeks and months.
IPAS teams continue to work on a daily basis to make best use of the limited accommodation available, conduct reviews and outreach, and arrange offers of accommodation for those who are most vulnerable.
Updated information on unaccommodated international protection applicants is published online at [Gov.ie].
[www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/publications/statistics-on-international-protection-applicants-not-offered-accommodation/?referrer=https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/e202e-statistics-on-international-protection-applicants-not-offered-accommodation/]
