Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in mid-2026. Reforming and speeding up processing of applications should also serve over time to reduce the scale of the demand for international protection accommodation.
The Department is also working to increase the proportion of international protection accommodation that is State-owned, reducing reliance on commercial providers and creating a more stable and sustainable accommodation system overall.
Thornton Hall remains an important part of the longer-term strategy to increase State-owned provision and will be the subject of further sectoral planning in the coming period, in the context of the development of further prison service capacity, and IPAS accommodation.