Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Coveney for his questions and kind remarks, and his recognition of the work that officials here and the many officials in my Department do every day for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. On the first point on IPAS processing times, I am not able to give the most up-to-date figures because the Minister, Deputy McEntee, deals with processing through the Department of Justice and the IPO deals with the processing times. I know she has put in significant resources in 2023 and this year, and that she has allocated significant resources for next year, with increased levels of staff. That is delivering, particularly with our use of the safe country list. We can now achieve much quicker turnarounds of first instance decisions for people coming in from safe countries. I do not know the exact figures off the top of my head. Maybe that question would be best directed to the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I recognise and always have recognised her real focus there. She works to improve the processing time. I am working to improve the scale of accommodation and our ability to provide accommodation for international protection applicants.

We are currently providing accommodation for 32,000 international protection applicants. Last year, we saw about 13,000 international protection applicants arrive. We estimate that by the end of this year, we will see 21,000 or 22,000 arrive. There has been a significant jump in the number of arrivals and therefore a jump in the number of people we have to accommodate. That is the driver in the jump of the IPAS Estimate that we are seeking today.

I can give the Deputy more detail on the point on Ukraine. Right now, there are 35,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection who are Ukrainians in accommodation directly provided by the State - hotels, guesthouses and so on. There are another 31,000 people accommodated in private homes through the offer-a-home scheme and the Red Cross pledge scheme, and supported by the accommodation recognition payment. For context, in November of last year, there were 60,000 people in State-owned accommodation. That has dropped from 60,000 to 35,000 in 11 months because of the work my officials have done. Where there is an issue with contracts or where there are a significant number of vacancies, they have worked to consolidate those. That is the basis for the €218 million saving that we are reporting on Ukrainian accommodation today. That work is not always easy because when there are three half-filled hotels or guesthouses and they are consolidated, people have to be moved, which has an impact on them when they have set up in communities here in Ireland for 18 months or two years. This is not easy work. It is challenging when we have to move people. We are trying to get that balance between good contracts, good value for money in the State and continuing to support people in the communities where they live. About 300 contracts have been ended over the last 11 months because the demand for directly provided State accommodation has contracted over that time.

I know of no further proposals to limit the accommodation or social protection payment offerings provided to Ukrainians. A change was brought in earlier this year which has been significant. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, deals with social protection issues, but as far as I am aware, there are no further changes. I know there was commentary about two weeks ago in the media. At the time, I said I was not aware of any further changes. I continue not to be aware of any other further changes.

On the modular programme, about 2,100 people are accommodated in modular sites around the country. One final site in Clonmel is being worked on at the moment. When that is completed, 2,300 people will be accommodated by the programme. A rightful concern has been raised about the increase in costs of that programme. The primary driver of that is the sites, not the costs of the units themselves. It is the cost of the work that had to take place on the sites that were provided. These were sites that were rejected for inclusion in Housing for All. They were deemed as too challenging for use as social or affordable housing under housing for all. The challenges to those particular sites were the primary driver of what I recognise is a significant overrun on the modular programme.

The primary driver of the extra costs sought for Tusla in 2024 is the need for more mainstream residential accommodation. As the Deputy knows, the vast majority, a total of 90%, of children in Ireland taken into care are cared for in foster care. That is far higher than most European countries. It is a figure we are proud of because when children have to be taken out of the care of their own family, the next best thing is to have them in the care of another family rather than in residential care. We are finding that a group of children and young people whose needs are complex and who are not able to settle in a foster home situation need residential care. Those have significant staffing numbers. There are the costs of the actual accommodation itself and the cost of staffing. That is the primary driver.