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

The comprehensive accommodation strategy is to run until 2028. The vision set out in my answer of 13,000 beds and the various elements is something we wish to achieve by 2028. We have already taken significant steps in the use of State land. That has been a huge change. There is the site at Crooksling, County Dublin, and at Trudder, County Wicklow, where we are now accommodating a significant number of applicants. They are initially being accommodated in tents, but we will look to upgrade the accommodation to prefabricated rapid-build units. We are also looking to bring forward significant accommodation on the Thornton Hall site, which is another State-owned accommodation site. We are looking at two other existing sites at Athlone, County Westmeath, and Knockalisheen on the border of counties Limerick and Clare to improve and bring additional capacity and upgrade those to reception and integration centres.

The issue of processing is primarily one for my colleague, the Minister for Justice. She has put in significant investment over the past two budgets and has been able to dramatically shorten processing times. I think she would recognise there is still more work to be done. Part of that is signing up to the EU asylum and migration pact, but very significant progress has been made in that area.

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