Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy. I wish to start by also expressing my sympathy and condolences to Garda Flatley's family, colleagues and the community. It is a very sad occasion in which we are taking these questions here today, and they put a lot of things in context.

The Government has brought significant focus to addressing a range of complex systemic pressures within our international protection system. Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU pact on migration and asylum in mid-2026. As Minister of State, my goal is to ensure a robust and enforced immigration system. The system should provide efficient processing and ensure people who meet the criteria for international protection can be accepted and integrated into our society quickly. It will also ensure that anyone who does not meet the criteria is refused protection and leaves the State.

My overall strategic approach is intended to reduce the scale of the demand for accommodation. This is against a backdrop in Ireland and other EU member states where we have responded to a very sharp and sustained increase in the number of people applying for international protection from early 2022 to the end of 2024. To illustrate this, at the beginning of 2022, Ireland's international protection accommodation services sheltered approximately 7,000 people. By the end of 2024, this had expanded by almost 400% to accommodate 32,000 eligible people.

The total cost of IPAS accommodation in 2024 was just over €1 billion. This figure is still provisional pending publication of the 2024 appropriation accounts for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, under which this service operated during that year.

The budget allocated for this service in 2025 is €1.2 billion. The costs include both State-owned and commercially provided emergency accommodation and cover accommodation, catering, utilities, transport and other essential costs.

In managing the complex range of accommodation contracts in 325 centres, there are processes in place to ensure value for money and enforce compliance. Officials in IPAS routinely inspect services and oversee the contracts, and engage with providers and regulatory bodies. Within IPAS, these changes will see the proportion of accommodation provided on State-owned sites increased with the objective of developing an accommodation system with a reduced reliance on commercial provision.

These changes, along with other steps I am taking to improve the operation of international protection, should curtail the need to constantly grow the capacity we have seen over recent years.

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