Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 June 2012
512 Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of direct provision centres here; the number of asylum seekers in each centre in the years 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012; the cost of running each individual centre in each of these years; if his attention has been drawn to any of these properties being in National Asset Management Agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29634/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department is responsible for the accommodation of asylum seekers in accordance with the Government policy of direct provision and dispersal. On 10 June 2012, there were 5,120 persons being accommodated in 37 centres across the State. Details of the numbers accommodated on a centre-by-centre basis in 2010, 2011 and 2012 are provided in the monthly statistical reports which can be found on the RIA website atwww.ria.gov.ie.
In relation to the costs, RIA's Annual Reports for the years 2007 to 2011 inclusive are published to the RIA website. These reports include details of spending for those years, showing total payments for contracts in respect of State owned, commercial and self-catering centres; for transport costs; for utility costs in State-owned centres; and for miscellaneous payments. As explained in replies to previous Dáil Questions, it is not in the interest of the taxpayer that details of current individual contracts are known to the public or to other parties who are, or may be in the future, engaged in negotiations with RIA. Therefore, details of current contract rates are not provided. The policy is that the updating of the table of contracts will take place only at the end of January each year in respect of all financial information up to the end of December two years previously, e.g. at the end of January, 2012 the records are updated to end of December 2009. This policy has been upheld by the Office of the Information Commissioner. For the information of the Deputy I should point out that a Value For Money study published in May 2010 on the direct provision system found that while the system is expensive the alternative system for accommodating asylum seekers via the private rented sector with welfare payments would be close to twice as expensive.
In relation to any commercially owned asylum accommodation centre ‘being in' the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), this is not relevant to RIA. In fulfilling its general accommodation responsibilities, RIA does not own, lease or rent premises from commercial contractors. Rather, it ‘contracts-in' a comprehensive range of services and facilities, which include accommodation, housekeeping etc., for a fixed sum over the period of the contract. It is a condition of the contract with RIA that the contractor has good title to the centre but this does not specify either owning, or renting or leasing the building concerned. The finance mechanism, loans or otherwise, used by the contractor for the provision of the service to RIA is a matter solely for the contractor.
In relation to the general issue of whether NAMA can divulge details of property that it may hold as security or where an enforcement action has been taken by NAMA on that property, these issues are addressed on its website —www.nama.ie.
