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

As of 5 December, just over 100,000 Ukrainian nationals have been granted temporary protection in Ireland. As the Deputy knows, we are accommodating approximately 75,000 of those in State-provided accommodation. We are also accommodating just over 26,000 people in the international protection system. In that context, the underlying assumptions upon which the initial White Paper was published in February 2021 need to be examined. That foresaw 3,500 people arriving into the system per year. Last year, we saw 15,000 arrivals and this year, we will probably see approximately 13,000 people arrive into the system.

With regard to the steps my Department is taking to address some of the recommendations in the Ombudsman for Children’s report, I would like to state that the Department is working to procure new accommodation and to transition current residents from emergency accommodation centres to more permanent accommodation within the portfolio. The revised White Paper implementation approach will focus on increasing the State-owned permanent accommodation capacity to build an appropriate system to meet an increasing need.

With regard to the recommendation for the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, to put in place a robust quality assurance mechanism, including an independent inspectorate, my Department has put in place a number measures to address concerns that include monitoring of permanent centres for adherence to national standards; a vulnerability assessment programme; resident clinics; the publication of the revised IPAS child safeguarding statement; and the provision of child protection briefings to managers and staff at IPAS centres.

Finally, with regard to the third recommendation, IPAS will continue to prioritise children and address their vulnerabilities in accordance with the requirements of the EU reception conditions directive. IPAS will continue to engage with all staff in centres that accommodate children in the international protection system to ensure they complete Children First training, have a designated liaison person assigned and adhere to the Children First legislation and guidance.

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