Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2014
409. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the total cost of the direct provision service nationally; and the annual cost of contracts with private providers in accommodating residents, broken down per adult and child. [28114/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department is responsible for the accommodation of protection applicants in accordance with the Government policy of direct provision and dispersal. Direct provision provides for full board accommodation supports while a final decision is awaited by a person on their protection or any related leave to remain application.
As at 8 June 2014, there were 4,353 persons availing of direct provision accommodation and supports in 34 accommodation centres across 16 counties. The expenditure outturn for the accommodation costs incurred by RIA in the last five years is as follows:
|
Year |
Outturn |
|
2013 |
€55.2m |
|
2012 |
€62.3m |
|
2011 |
€69.5m |
|
2010 |
€79m |
|
2009 |
€86.5m |
The 2014 Estimate Provision for RIA is €51.9 million. More detailed information on the breakdown of costs associated with the Direct Provision system can be found in RIA Annual Reports on its website - www.ria.gov.ie. For example, the 2013 RIA Annual Report shows that RIA paid €45.735m to private contractors in respect of commercially owned centres and €6.901m to private contractors in respect of the management of State-owned centres.
Of the 34 centres currently under contract to RIA, 7 are State owned i.e. the land and buildings are owned by the State. Whilst all centres are managed by private companies under contract to RIA, the rates paid by RIA takes into account the differing costs undertaken directly by these companies, depending on whether it is a State owned or privately owned centre. A key element of these contracts is the rates paid by RIA on a per person per day (PPPD) basis. This rate does not distinguish between adults and children.
As has been stated in answers to previous Dáíl Questions, 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, 2013 the records are updated to end of December 2010. This policy has been upheld by the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Nonetheless, it is possible to give a general indication of the rates currently paid. As mentioned above, these rates are on a per person per day (PPPD) basis. Currently, the average PPPD rate for direct provision centres is €29.49 while the same contract rate for State-owned centres averages at €15.50.
The two PPPD rates cited above are not directly comparable. The direct provision rate is a single all-inclusive figure which includes, inter alia, energy, maintenance, transport and VAT costs. By contrast, the State-owned rate does not include any of these costs, which are borne directly by the State and not by the contracted management company.
It should be noted that the direct provision system is only one element of the State’s response to its international obligations on the asylum issue. The system is based on the principle of mainstream service provision so that residents receive the same health and community welfare supports as the general population. As regards education, children of asylum seekers are linked to local mainstream primary and post-primary schools as well as ECCE pre-school placements in a like manner to the general population. As well as these educational, health and welfare costs, there is the asylum determination system itself, as well as the downstream judicial and policing costs. All countries which take their responsibilities in this area seriously are faced with similar calls on their financial resources. For example, it was estimated that in the period 2005 to 2009 inclusive, the total amount spent across the whole of Government on asylum seekers was €1,275.31 million, of which €424.43 million was spent on the direct provision system.
