Direct Provision System

Thursday, 9 September 2021

Questions (767, 773)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

767. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of persons currently in direct provision. [42347/21]

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773. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of persons in the direct provision system for less than six and between six and 12 months; the number in excess of one, two, three, four, five, six and seven years, respectively; the corresponding figures for children;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42533/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

I propose to take Questions Nos. 767 and 773 together.

As of 07 September 2021, a total of 6,478 people are recorded by my Department as being resident in accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS), of whom 1,692 are children. This includes people who are resident in Direct Provision centres and in temporary accommodation in hotels and guesthouses.

The table below shows the number of people in accommodation broken down by their length of stay and whether they are an adult or a child.

Time Spent	Adult	Child	Total
0-5 Months	408	114	522
6-12 months	496	110	606
1+ years	1240	428	1668
2+ years	1180	454	1634
3+ years	591	294	885
4+ years	311	127	438
5+ years	309	108	417
6+ years	157	28	185
7+years	94	29	123
Grand Total	4786	1692	6478

These figures represent continuous periods of residence and cannot reflect interrupted residential periods where the person may have left IPAS accommodation and returned at a later stage. In addition, these figures only relate to persons who have registered with the International Protection Office (IPO) and do not reflect children resident in the centres who may not have been registered by their parents.

The length of time a person stays in state provided accommodation generally reflects the length of time taken to reach a final conclusion on their application for international protection or other permission to reside in the State and may also include applications to revoke Deportation Orders. As the application process also allows for legal challenges against negative decisions at many stages of the process, the time taken to finalise many cases can be prolonged.

As of the end of August 2021, there are also 1,185 residents with an international protection status or a permission to remain in the State, residing in accommodation centres provided by my Department.

Considerable work is being undertaken to support these residents to move out of accommodation centres and into secure accommodation in the community. My Department has a specific team in IPAS who work in collaboration with a number of key stakeholders to collectively support residents with status, or a permission to remain, to access housing options.

These stakeholders include; Depaul Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the City and County Managers Association.