Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Figures released by the Minister's Department on 11 June showed that, at the end of April this year, 5,644 who had been granted a status such as refugee status or subsidiary protection status or who had been given leave to remain still remained in IPAS accommodation. When these people are granted their status, they are permitted to avail of rent allowance or the housing assistance payment in a similar way to the 60,000 Irish people currently on the social housing list. However, these 5,644 remain in the IPAS accommodation system getting free accommodation, free meals, a free medical card, free energy and so on at the taxpayer's expense. Of course, this is causing a clog in the system and keeping beds from incoming refugees, forcing thousands to stay in tents in cities across this country. This mismanagement is a serious source and cause of public anger and lack of faith in this Government. Tent cities, homeless encampments and other dangerous community conditions result in dangerous social conditions for families, residents and asylum seekers alike.

I know of many providers that have been contracted by the Minister's Department to provide accommodation to Ukrainian refugees over the last two years and which notified the Department when vacancies became available. However, the Department has failed to put any replacement persons into these accommodations. The taxpayer is paying for empty rooms and this is happening on the Minister's watch. This has been going on for over a year. I understand that the Department only recently started to carry out inspections.

Today, I must address this Government's dangerous proposal to convert Thornton Hall into a tent city for the overcrowded asylum system, a proposal the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is aware of. Along with other Oireachtas Members from the east Meath and north Dublin areas, I was briefed on the proposal by the civic engagement group of the Department of integration. We were shocked to learn that the tender for IPAS accommodation at Thornton Hall had been awarded. The contracts were signed although absolutely no amenities required for humane living conditions were available on the site. Are we paying the contractors and from what date? Ms Eibhlin Byrne, head of the civic engagement team, clarified that those due to be housed at this site are single men only. Men will be housed in shared tents on five acres of the 30-acre facility. In my estimation, we could reach a figure of 1,000 occupants on that portion of land.

The number who will reside here remains unspecified. In the meeting, we were told that there were just over 30,000 people in the IPAS system and that Thornton Hall is one of six State-owned sites currently being assessed for emergency and tented accommodation of this type. Where are these sites? The public have a right to know. The site at Thornton Hall is not fit for habitation. The proposed accommodation is unresourced and the conditions are inhumane. There are no on-site toilet or temporary shower facilities. No regular transportation to and from the site is agreed in the contract. Time and again, the polls show that migration is one of the biggest issues the public cares about. Yet again, public consultation has been non-existent. This is another disaster for the community engagement team and the Department of integration. This is not how you do business.

We simply cannot continue to take these numbers in. We have taken in 680 in the last ten days. We are heading for 30,000 this year. The solidarity figure under the new EU migration pact is not built into that number. Part of the plan is to allocate new turn-key properties. How does the Minister think this plan can gain the support of the 60,000 people currently on the social housing list? I listened to Senator Seery Kearney. I have often wondered about how we spend our foreign direct aid. Should we be looking at ways in which we and the EU can build up economic teams in the countries that people are coming from? There has to be a way to ensure sustainable economic development in these countries, which have poorer infrastructure than we do at this moment in time. The EU is supporting a brain drain from these countries rather than trying to help them develop economically, which is what we really should be doing so that people will not flee those countries. The brainiest people, who are coming here from these countries, need to stay in their own countries to develop their own nations.

It is a mess and it is not getting any better. We are not getting any control over the situation. It is all very well to talk about all the lovely things that are happening but that is just the fluff around the chaos that exists at this moment in time.