David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Since September 2018, the Reception and Integration Agency, RIA, has arranged for the provision of emergency beds where mainstream accommodation centres are at capacity. As of 16 June 2019, a total of 817 applicants were staying in 25 emergency centres.

The locations being used for the provision of emergency accommodation have been selected by means of a call for expressions of interest from hotels and guest houses advertised in the national press.

I wish to confirm that the hotel in question is being used for emergency accommodation and is not a direct provision centre. My Department is working to identify additional capacity within its accommodation portfolio in order that the use of emergency accommodation will be reduced and ended, if possible, by the end of this year.

As part of the regional procurement process that RIA is rolling out in 2019, a competition for the mid-east region, which covers counties Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow, will be advertised in the third quarter of this year seeking the provision of accommodation and ancillary services for persons seeking international protection. It would be premature to speculate at this stage what properties will be offered to the Department under this process.

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