Vol. 497 No. 2
278 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the cost to his Department for bed and breakfast accommodation for asylum seekers, refugees and illegal immigrants to date in 1998; if he will give a breakdown of this expenditure for each of the years from 1990 to 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24716/98]
My Department recoups 90 per cent of the cost to local authorities of payments made in relation to the provision of emergency, usually bed and breakfast, accommodation, for homeless people, including asylum seekers. The amount recouped by my Department for the years 1990 to 1997 and in 1998 to date is as follows: 1990, £115,000; 1991, £377,000; 1992, £676,000; 1993, £902,000; 1994, £1,359,000; 1995, £2,214,000; 1996, £3,090,000; 1997, £6,000,000; 1998 (to date), £18,432,700.
The extent to which payments are attributable to emergency accommodation for asylum seekers is not readily available. However, payments by the Dublin local authorities to the Eastern Health Board in respect of emergency accommodation for asylum seekers in the years 1995-97 amounted to the following: 1995, £62,271; 1996, £613,530; 1997, £6,929,440. The 1998 figure will not be available until early 1999. Details of payments in respect of asylum seekers for the years prior to 1995 are not available.
Apart from amounts paid to the Dublin local authorities in 1998, my Department has paid a total of £133,383 in 1998 to Monaghan County Council, Wexford County Council and Wexford Corporation in respect of expenditure incurred by those authorities on emergency accommodation for asylum seekers.
