Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for equality, disability and youth, Norma Foley, who cannot be with us this morning.

Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection and has also welcomed more than 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. Our accommodation systems have had to expand at a rapid pace over the past two years in response to this sharp increase in need among both those groups. The 114,000 arriving from Ukraine, combined with the significant increase in applications for international protection since 2022, have come at a time when accommodation in Ireland is at a very short supply across all dimensions.

In addition to the Ukraine response, the increase in applications for international protection places a legal duty on the State to accommodate the additional applicants. Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country, and intensive efforts were made, as part of a whole-of-Government response, to ensure people in need were provided with shelter and support.

Against the backdrop over the past three years of unique events in Ukraine, increased need and the acute shortage of accommodation, it has not been possible for the Department to apply specific policies in respect of geographic distribution of accommodation centres. Consequently, every suitable offer of much-needed accommodation has had to be considered and appraised. However, in future, it is hoped that there will be a greater focus on dispersal strategies as we work toward a more stable and sustainable accommodation system in this sector.

The international protection procurement service, IPPS, tries to ensure, in as far as possible, that international protection applicants are not located in remote locations. However, given the demand for accommodation over recent years, this has not always been possible. The Department engages with relevant stakeholders and accommodation service providers as appropriate to ensure that international protection applicants placed in accommodation in areas that are farther from urban centres, towns or villages have access to transportation as a basic requirement. In situations where an accommodation centre is located without public transport links within a 2 km radius but where there is manageable access, IPAS will ensure that a shuttle service to a nearby town or a public transport stop is provided.

The agreement to not contract IPAS accommodation in a given town’s only operating hotel was agreed by the Government during this period of intense need on the basis of not removing an important amenity from public use. I note Deputy McGrath is saying that many of the hotels he listed were amenities up until the point of contract. This was based on not accepting new contracts that would take a town’s last operating hotel out of public use for events, holiday or business stays, and day-to day use by the town for food, socialising or leisure, or the events the Deputy named, such as confirmations, communions and all those important parts of growing up. Where a former hotel or tourist accommodation has not been in public use for some time, or has been contracted by the Department to accommodate people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the approach has been to consider offers from such a property, as it was not providing a hotel facility in that community.

Significant efforts are under way to source and bring into use suitable long-term international protection accommodation facilities in line with the comprehensive accommodation strategy.

I see the clock counting down. I think the Deputy will be particularly interested in this. Figures from Fáilte Ireland last year showed that 12,000 beds were returned from use by the Department's Ukraine response to tourism specifically, which were among the 15,000 beds returned to private use by the Ukraine team in the period. I hope this shows that this will allow growth of the tourism sector in the areas like Dundrum and Tipperary, with an acknowledgment of the contribution made by these areas and providers to support the historic humanitarian and State response to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

There is further detail and I believe it has been provided to the Deputy by our usher.

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