Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that: — the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth's figures confirm a 37 per cent increase in non-Ukrainian International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) residents, reaching 26,092 by the week ending 26th November, 2023;

— over 26,092 IPAS residents are now being accommodated at over 200 centres throughout Ireland;

— the number of IPAS residents surged by 150 per cent since 27th March, 2022, from 10,447 to the 26th November, 2023;

— the 2022 spending on IPAS accommodation alone was €356.554 million, reasonably expected to exceed half a billion euro in 2023;

— the year 2022 witnessed a surge in international protection applications, reaching 13,651, signifying a 415 per cent rise from 2021 and a 186 per cent increase from 2019, marking the highest recorded number of asylum applications in Ireland;

— Georgia emerged as the leading country of origin for applicants in 2022, constituting one in every five applicants, despite the Department of Justice designating it as a "safe country of origin";

— the taxpayer's cost for accommodating IPAS/asylum applicants between 2016 and 2022 was over €1 billion, excluding €522 million for Ukrainian accommodation in 2022;

— in October 1,382 asylum seekers arrived, with 50 per cent being single males, now comprising over 48 per cent of all residents in IPAS accommodation;

— in the first four weeks of November, on average, 141 single male asylum seekers arrived in Ireland each week, again making up almost half of all IPAS arrivals;

— communities nationwide voice escalating social concerns about safety, strained resources and facilities due to overcrowded accommodations, including repurposed nursing homes for single males;

— the lack of an objective mechanism to distinguish "genuine" and "ungenuine" or "legal" and "illegal" asylum seekers undermines the integrity of the immigration and IPAS system, overburdening the entire system and causing anxiety and fear in local communities as a result;

— as of October 430 asylum seekers endure harsh winter conditions in temporary tented accommodation due to the absence of realistic immigration caps;

— the data reveals a disturbing average of 45 daily arrivals in October, marking a 250 per cent increase from April's average of 18 daily arrivals;

— other European Union (EU) countries tighten immigration laws, while Ireland's more attractive laws result in "asylum tourism";

— the Government's reckless immigration policy is neither functional, robust, nor effective, thereby facilitating exploitation and resulting in a staggering increase of over 270 per cent in the influx since the current coalition took office, increasing from under 7,000 in mid-2020 to over 26,000 residents in the IPAS system now; and

— despite the staggering increase in inward migration, there has been a dramatic decline in the number of non-EU nationals deported due to criminality, dropping from 273 in 2012 to a mere five deportations in 2021; further notes that: — the average annual accommodation cost for an international protection applicant in IPAS accommodation rose to over €26,000 in 2020 and 2021, up from €12,700 in 2018;

— the Ombudsman for Children expresses dissatisfaction with the lack of a quality assurance mechanism for children in IPAS accommodation;

— the Ombudsman for Children highlights adverse effects on the rights and welfare of children in State-provided IPAS accommodation;

— the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth/IPAS broke a promise made in April 2021 to end the use of non-designated commercial hotels for accommodating International Protection (IP) residents, leading to ongoing system failures on practical, economic, and legal grounds according to the Ombudsman for Children's October 2023 Special Report on the Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision;

— the grave overreliance on the private commercial accommodation sector is leading to ongoing system failures, particularly affecting children according to the Ombudsman for Children;

— IP in Ireland is granted to those with a "well-founded fear of persecution" and from countries suffering from war, terrorism, or extreme instability;

— using methodology from the Global Conflict Tracker, run by the Council on Foreign Relations, it can be objectively deduced that over half of all IP occupants in Ireland are from countries that are not at war, nor are they from countries suffering from terrorist insurgencies or extreme instability, including occupants originally from Georgia, the largest nationality recorded, currently at 3,751 occupants;

— Georgia has been at peace since the cessation of the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, is designated by the Department of Justice as a "safe country of origin" and according to the Georgian Ambassador to Ireland, George Zurabashvili, there are "no political circumstances" that would justify Georgian nationals to claim asylum in Ireland; and

— other nationalities prominently featured in the IPAS accommodation system include Algeria (at peace since the cessation of its Civil War in 2002 and classified as a "safe country of origin" by nine EU member states) with 3,656 occupants, Zimbabwe (at peace since the fall of Rhodesia in 1979) with 2,165 occupants, and Albania (which has not been at war since the Second World War and which has been a pro-Western European democracy since the fall of the Communist regime in 1991) with 492 occupants; calls on the Government to explain why almost a quarter of all current IP occupants are from the eight nations classified as "safe countries of origin" by the International Protection Act 2015, namely: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and South Africa; and

further calls on the Government to: — recognise that the Government's suppression of any national debate or dialogue on immigration policy has exacerbated community fear and undermined social cohesion;

— put in place operational protocols and procedures to carry out full consultation with each local community where a new IPAS centre is to be based, similar to the planning application process, prior to signing any contract with accommodation providers;

— put an end to the "open doors" or "unlimited" inward migration;

— ensure Ireland is not granting asylum, residency, or citizenship to anyone convicted of a violent crime;

— explain why almost a quarter of all current IP occupants are from the eight nations classified as "safe countries of origin" by the International Protection Act 2015, namely: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and South Africa;

— recognise the need for coherent and robust screening processes to ensure arrivals into the IPAS system are genuine and are using legal and safe routes to eliminate exploitation by individuals and/or criminal gangs as a matter of utmost urgency;

— accept that the current chaotic situation cannot continue where small local communities are taken for granted, denied any input, and offered zero consultation on how and when asylum seekers will be arriving in their towns and villages;

— immediately move to ensure the existing legislative provisions of the International Protection Act 2015 are fully implemented to ensure a much higher bar for an individual coming into Ireland under the IP system from a designated "safe country of origin" to ensure exploitation of scarce public resources is minimised;

— immediately implement a cap on the influx of asylum seekers allowed into Ireland as the number of asylum seekers arriving into Ireland every day is exacerbating the housing crisis, and it is now clear that we have exceeded the limit of our capacity;

— legislate for stricter migration legislation to eliminate illegal asylum seekers, who are for the most part arriving here without a shred of identification, coming to Ireland in what has now become, inter alia, asylum tourism; and

— explain why unvetted single males, many from safe countries, are being accommodated in accommodation centres in small rural locations without any consultation whatsoever with local communities, despite the grave potential consequences for residents in those communities.

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