Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which is an ongoing one. The State offers accommodation to those who present in Ireland applying for international protection as asylum seekers. One of the centres in the State, the Clondalkin Towers Hotel, wrote recently to the Reception and Integration Agency, RIA, an agency of the Department of Justice and Equality, advising it that it would not seek to renew the contract in Clondalkin Towers. The contract is due to expire on 3 December. Senior management in the RIA engaged with the contractors on Tuesday, 9 October, yesterday, to discuss the matter. The welfare of residents will be kept at the centre of its approach. In the coming days the agency will be in touch with each of the residents to bring them up to speed with developments and to advise them of the next steps. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the outcome of those discussions at this stage.

In the wider scheme, the Department has placed an advertisement in the national media seeking additional accommodation fully compliant with the recommendations of the McMahon report to meet current and future demand. Separate to this is an open competitive process to establish a framework of accommodation centres from which it can draw down accommodation as and when needed over the coming years. The agency has contracted over 5,900 beds with an occupancy rate of 90%. This includes some 600 people in accommodation who have been granted permission to remain in Ireland and are, therefore, technically ineligible for accommodation in these centres but are still accommodated understanding the difficulty in finding accommodation at present. Some have received a decision while others received decisions several months, and indeed a couple of years, ago.

See this speech in context