Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy. My Department is taking action across all aspects of international protection accommodation to provide value for money, strengthen governance and compliance, and renegotiate contracts with providers. This forms part of the overall reform of the international protection system that is already working to speed up processing of applications and move from commercial provision to State provision. These reforms will help to drive down costs and curtail the growth seen over recent years in the accommodation system.

The Department has worked closely with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in carrying out an extensive review of costs and processes within the international protection accommodation system. A report on this matter was published last week as part of the C and AG’s annual report for 2024. All recommendations in the report have been accepted and implemented by the Department, with implementation of one recommendation being further developed into early 2026. The report looked at overall processes and sampled 20 IPAS contracts. It acknowledged the extensive challenges posed to the State in sourcing accommodation during the unprecedented surge in applications from 2022 to 2024. During that period, over 45,000 international protection applicants arrived in Ireland. Prior to this, there were 8,000 or 9,000 in a typical three-year period. Today’s standards of pre-contract assessments and negotiations could not be applied to accommodation that had to be sourced during the period from 2022 to 2024.

While applications this year have decreased, they remain high compared to pre-2022 norms. However, they have given us sufficient space to put in place greater controls over IPAS and the accommodation portfolio. A range of updated systems and procedures have been put in place and are already having an impact. IPAS has improved its processes for appraisal, validation, contracting and payments. A new rate-card pricing structure is being applied to all new and renewing contracts, which has led to savings of over €52 million on 104 contracts. This reform within the accommodation system is on track for continued process improvement and costs savings as we move into 2026.

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