Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if there is a strategy to spread the location of IPAS accommodation and avoid having large clusters in one area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66709/25]

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is important that in all our discussions here, we choose our language carefully. We must not say anything that might inflame situations or give encouragement to any extreme positions. We must stick to the facts at all times. Let us remember that we are talking about fellow human beings.

I ask if there is a strategy to spread the location of IPAS accommodation and avoid having large clusters in one area.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the comments in relation to the language and tone that must be used at all times in having conversations around this issue. It is very important, and important in this House.

During the period from 2022 to 2024, over 45,000 additional international protection applicants arrived in Ireland. Prior to this, a typical three-year period would have seen between 8,000 and 9,000 arrivals. IPAS was accommodating approximately 7,000 people in total at the end of 2021. By the end of 2024, that figure had risen to 32,000.

During that surge, the State was obliged to urgently source over 26,000 beds for international protection applicants, and in parallel, up to 60,000 beds for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Centres were opened across the country, often at short notice, in order to ensure that people were provided with shelter. Given the emergency, the State was not in a position to implement any deliberate policies in relation to dispersal or distribution of accommodation centres during this period. However, I note that the 318 IPAS accommodation centres currently in operation are distributed and operational in every county across Ireland.

Due to the reduction in the numbers seeking international protection in 2025, my Department has been able to progress a range of very significant actions; to work to improve oversight, particularly of value for money; and to increase the proportion of State-owned beds across the system. The new rate card that has been implemented for contracts has delivered savings of over €59 million since May of this year. While commissioning emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be necessary in the short to medium term, it is being contracted on a short-term basis, which enables the State to decommission this capacity with agility as contracts expire or to meet fluctuating demand.

Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU pact on migration. Reforming and speeding up the processing of applications should serve over time to reduce the scale of the demand for international protection accommodation, as we have seen starting in recent years.

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for that information. I understand the massive pressures that commenced three or four years ago. The most important thing is that we have open and frank discussions. By having open discussions, we lessen the possibility of false information and extreme positions taking hold. Two years ago, I stated publicly that we should have an open discussion on immigration. Only now is this beginning. We need to discuss this openly and not brush it under the carpet. We have nothing to hide. As a nation, we have been very generous. It is important that centres are not all located in one area or that small towns and villages do not have very high numbers. In my own county of Wicklow, the majority of IPAS centres, and of the numbers of applicants, are located in one municipal district. That district is west Wicklow. This district is also the most poorly served by public transport and services. This was not well planned. We need now to develop long-term strategies for IPAS locations.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy, as I did in my initial reply, that this is what we are doing. We fully recognise that we went through a period where we had an effective emergency. We had a massive surge in numbers and we had to respond to those on a humanitarian basis and to provide emergency accommodation as necessary. The operation that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have been working on, literally day and night since we came into office, is to ensure we put in place an IPAS system that is fit for purpose, delivers value for money for the taxpayer, is based on moving towards State ownership of facilities rather than commercial contracting, and takes into account impacts on communities and local people. We also want to meet our key central requirement, which is to provide the accommodation that is needed, as we are obliged to do under our international obligations. In the context of doing all of that and in the context of renewing the contracts as they fall due, we are very much aware of the need to have an even spread, to look at how impacted communities are by location and to take that into account in all future decisions we make. Overall, the way of dealing with this is to bring down the numbers, which will bring down the need for the centres.

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I fully appreciate the great work the Minister of State is doing. I commend him and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, on the steps taken. They are very much facing up to the reality because to date in this country the political classes have been out of sync with the views of ordinary decent Irish people. We need to be transparent in how we are dealing with the housing of people who are exiting the IPAS system. Our councils need to inform the councillors of any relevant policies that impact housing allocations. Also, in regard to expenditure, and I understand the Minister of State is dealing with this, I urge the Minister to work to renegotiate all contracts with a view to lowering the cost. Regular counts should be done to establish the numbers in each centre so we are not paying for people who are not living there. One of the cornerstones of any system is that all citizens of the State who are working are treated equally. In the case of IPAS residents who are working and earning a wage, there must be a contribution to accommodation costs. Rent should be calculated along the lines of the letting priority scheme and local authority rents.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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There is very little of that I would disagree with. To be absolutely clear, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have announced a contribution model which we will implement. We believe absolutely in a system based on fairness, which means that people who are working and bring provided with accommodation through the IPAS system should make a contribution to the cost of that provision. On the actual cost of providing the IPAS system, as I mentioned we have implemented a new rate card as part of contract renegotiations. As each contract comes forward for renegotiation, the new rate card kicks in. That is delivering savings to the State on providing IPAS accommodation of million and millions of euro. The real long-term saving to the State is the switch, which we have also implemented, to State-owned facilities. As the cost of a State-owned facility is a fraction of that of a commercial facility, that is the way we want to move. We are also cognisant that once people have moved through IPAS and have been granted permission to remain in this country, they should move out of IPAS centres and move into their own accommodation.