Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

It is confidential in that we do not want people with whom we are negotiating to see that we have a rate card. We have an internal basis of assessing what we should offer per person per night to individuals. We believe putting that information into the public domain would be commercially naive.

The Senator is correct about the €2.2 billion. That is what we spent on international protection accommodation and Ukrainian accommodation in 2024. He also asked about when the then Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, said that 30,000 was the new normal. The Senator sees it as being maybe 15,000. I still think those numbers are too high. What we have seen in the years when there was a surge, namely 2022, 2023 and 2024, is that may have been a consequence from what was happening as a result of the Covid years when people did not come through. I certainly want to see numbers under 10,000. It is difficult for that to be controlled. In terms of the measures I introduce, however, that is an effective way of trying to do it.

Senator McDowell also spoke about deportation orders. Some 3,029 deportation orders have been issued this year. There have also been 1,159 voluntary returns and there have been 278 enforced deportations whether by charter, private or self-deporations. In total this year, we have seen 1,461 repatriations in the context of what the Senator said.

As regards doorstepping people at Dublin airport, this method has been very effective in terms of seeking to prevent individuals arriving into the country without documentation. There have been 4,154 doorsteps carried out this year to the end of August 2025.

The Senator also asked about my predecessor's comment regarding the majority of people coming and seeking international protection here, whether they are coming through Dublin Airport or over the Border. Up to 19 September, that 87.66% of applicants for international protection made their applications at the International Protection Office. We believe this is indicative that a number very close to that-----