Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 March 2021
724. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the legally binding standards on international protection accommodation providers, their operation and the warnings or sanctions given since 1 January 2021. [17095/21]
View answerThe National Standards meet the requirements of the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive (Directive 2013/33/EU) which we voluntarily opted into in June 2018.
My Department is engaged in consultations with the Department of Health and HIQA aimed at establishing an independent monitoring mechanism for standards in International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation centres. It has not yet been determined whether legislative change will be required to put this in place.
Accommodation centres are currently subject to regular unannounced inspections by both my officials in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and an independent inspections company (QTS Limited). The requirement for inspection of dedicated accommodation centres is a contractual obligation for the contractors.
There are currently 46 designated accommodation centres that come under the inspections programme including the National Reception Centre in Balseskin, Co. Dublin.
These inspections are generally undertaken, twice yearly by my officials in IPAS and once yearly by QTS Limited. Inspections cover a wide range of issues including the quality of the food quality, fire safety, appropriate signage and information for residents, the condition of communal areas and sleeping quarters and adherence to hygiene and other health and safety measures. Completed inspections are published on www.ria.gov.ie.
The current inspection programme was severely compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic. All inspections were suspended temporarily during the first phase of COVID-19 restrictions but they recommenced on 14 September 2020 with all necessary safeguards in place. In 2020, my Department was able to ensure that all centres, with the exception of the new centre in Dominick Street in Galway which was not fully occupied until late 2020, were inspected at least once by IPAS officials, with 13 centres being inspected twice by IPAS officials. Furthermore QTS carried out an additional 29 inspections last year. This gives a combined total of 101 inspections carried out in 2020.
