Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 July 2018
213. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount paid to each direct provision operator in each of the years 2015 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31702/18]
View answerAll accommodation centres for those persons seeking protection, whether State-owned or privately owned, are operated by commercial companies. There are currently 34 accommodation centres being operated under the direct provision system.
Extensive and detailed information on the amount paid by my Department to each company contracted to provide direct provision accommodation every year up to and including 2014 can be found on the RIA website www.ria.gov.ie under the 'Contract Values' section of the website at this link. The 2015 information will be available shortly.
This is in accordance with the Reception & Integration Agency's policy on disclosure of financial information which was agreed with the Office of the Information Commissioner. The Deputy will appreciate that it is not appropriate to provide values for current contracts entered into by my Department. Negotiations take place with a number of commercial entities on an ongoing basis with a clear focus on achieving the best value for money in respect of each contract. It is not in the interests of yielding best value for the taxpayer that details of current individual contracts are made available to other commercial bodies who are, or may be in the future, engaged in these negotiations.
