Deputy, under the Recast Reception Conditions Directive (SI 230 of 2018), the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) is legally required to provide accommodation to international protection applicants who seek it while their claim for international protection is being determined by the International Protection Office.
As of 05 December 2022, there are 17,868 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system as a whole. This figure is in addition to the arrival of almost 61,000 Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection in the last 10 months of whom, to date, over 48,000 are seeking accommodation assistance from the State as a result of the war in Ukraine. At this point in 2021, there were approximately 7,300 persons in IPAS accommodation.
The pressure to accommodate over 67,000 people since the start of the year has led to significant shortages particularly for the international protection cohort. The Department has been forced to avail of all offers of accommodation made, including the use of office buildings, in order to address the accommodation shortfall.
The Department continues to seek to acquire further accommodation to increase IPAS capacity and, on 18 January 2022, published a request for tender (RFT) to procure additional accommodation for singles, couples and families seeking international protection.
The company that owns and runs the referred to accommodation submitted a Tender response to my Department’s Request For Tender (RFT) published on eTenders- Project 100-21 - Bespoke Panel Agreement for the Provision of Accommodation Services and Related Services for Persons Seeking International Protection.
The company’s tender was evaluated and, subsequently, awarded a contract to provide accommodation for families and this allowed it to plan and commence mobilisation works. The company, as part of its tender, provided details of the mobilisation works it is required to carry out fully to meet the accommodation specification.
Mobilisation works include the reconfiguration of furnishings, removal of bunks, modifications to fire doors and windows, upgrade of floor coverings/lighting/curtains/blinds, repair of mechanical ventilation, upgrade to guarding/handrails, conversion of the office to a meeting room, conversion of bathrooms to create disabled access toilets and general redecoration.
In order to carry out these works, it is necessary for the accommodation to be vacated. The contractor has targeted to have all works completed by 20 March 2023, once residents have vacated in January 2023.
In the referred to accommodation, 18 out of the 22 households have come to the end of their international protection application and have some form of status or permission to remain in Ireland already granted to them. Depaul are assisting those households in sourcing accommodation in the community. As they have permission to remain in Ireland, they have the same entitlements to accommodation in the community as Irish nationals.
