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

As the Deputy knows, on 27 March 2024, the Government agreed a new comprehensive accommodation strategy, CAS, for international protection applicants. This has a twofold aim. The immediate aim is to deal with the situation where we are not able to offer accommodation to everybody right now, and a significant number of people were sleeping rough on our streets. The secondary aim, as the Deputy said, was to move away from that massive over-reliance on the commercial sector and have a core of State-owned accommodation. We are looking at a number of strands in terms of how we deliver this. There is the use of State land for prefabricated and modular units, the conversion of commercial buildings, a targeted purchase of medium and larger turnkey properties, design and build of new reception and integration centres and the upgrading of existing IPAS centres.

From 2028 onwards my Department plans to achieve the following composition of accommodation. This includes State-owned reception and integration centres and accommodation centres, at national standards with an overall bed capacity of up to 13,000 beds. We would have a further 1,000 beds in-community accommodation for vulnerable people. We would also have contingency accommodation with bed capacity up to 11,000 and emergency accommodation with a bed capacity of up to 10,000.

As detailed in the updated strategy, accommodation will be delivered through a blended approach looking at a number of strands, whether purchasing turnkey properties or primarily delivery on State-owned sites. My Department launched an expression of interest, EOI, process on 30 April 2024 for the sourcing of suitable properties. The EOI seeks to identify properties for acquisition under the following criteria. The properties would have more than 150 beds. The bedrooms would be in line with national standards. There would be existing properties or buildings in turnkey condition, or existing properties that would require some degree of upgrading or refurbishment. Again, my Department is also working on existing State-owned sites to convert them into reception and integration centres.

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