Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021
1079. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 128 of 10 March 2021, the reason for the substantial increase in the cost of the direct provision system in 2019 and 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14611/21]
View answerAs noted to the Deputy in my answer to Parliamentary Question No. 628 of 10 March 2021, there was a spend of €183.037 million in 2020 on the provision of accommodation and services for International Protection applicants compared to €129.408 million in 2019, an increase of €53.629 million.
I am committed to improving conditions in our International Protection accommodation centres. As such, six new accommodation centres were opened in 2020, all of which provide facilities for independent living with two also providing own door accommodation. The addition of the new centres contributed to an increased spend of €24.8 million between the years 2019 and 2020. This increase accounts for 46% of the total increase between the two years.
Since March 2020 many measures have been put in place by IPAS in response to Covid-19 which also contributed to the increase in costs. These include increased capacity to support physical and social distancing; improved provision for self-isolation facilities in centres; offsite self-isolation and quarantine centres; and enhanced cleaning regimes and provision of PPE. These measures account for over one-third of the total increase in spending between the years 2019 and 2020, adding €19.2 million to the spend in 2020.
While the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of global travel restrictions resulted in a decrease in the number of new international protection applications being made in 2020, the number of residents being accommodated by my Department remained high and the necessary use of temporary accommodation centres continued. However, we have managed to greatly reduce the numbers of premises being used for this purpose from 44 since peak use in early 2020 to 24 now. The continued need for the use of temporary accommodation contracts accounted for an increase of €9.5 million in 2020.
Additional utility costs in the State-owned accommodation centres accounted for the remainder of the increased costs.
