Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
375. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount paid to private operators in respect of the housing of persons seeking international protection in each of the years 2010 to 2019 and in each month of 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9200/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can inform the Deputy that all accommodation centres for people seeking international protection, whether State-owned or privately owned, are operated by commercial companies under contract. There are currently 44 accommodation centres being operated under the Direct Provision reception system.
My Department contracts for an all-inclusive service, which includes catering services, as well as cleaning, maintenance and laundry services. I attach an extensive and detailed table of information on the amount paid by my Department to each company contracted to provide direct provision accommodation every year up to the end of 2017. It is the Department's policy not to disclose financial information on individual contracts for the most recent two years. This was agreed with the Office of the Information Commissioner.
The Deputy will appreciate that it is not appropriate to provide the current individual contract values entered into by my Department. Negotiations take place with a number of commercial entities on an on-going basis with a clear focus on achieving the best value for money in respect of each contract. It is not in the interests of yielding best value for the taxpayer that the details of current individual contracts are made available to other commercial bodies who are, or may be in the future, engaged in these negotiations.
The following table provides a breakdown by year of my Department's expenditure on the ‘direct provision’ system in the years 2010 to end of April 2020.
Table on Expenditure Type
Table of Accommodation contract information to end 2017
