Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

698. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the difference in daily rates for asylum seekers in Direct Provision; and if he will provide a breakdown of the daily rate for asylum seekers in State-owned and privately owned Direct Provision centres. [26884/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Reception & Integration Agency (RIA) is a functional unit of the Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department responsible for the accommodation of asylum seekers under the direct provision system.

4,650 persons are currently being accommodated in 34 centres under contract to RIA. Of these 34 centres, 7 are State owned i.e. the land and buildings are owned by the State. Whilst all centres are managed by private companies under contract to RIA, the rates paid by RIA takes into account the differing costs undertaken directly by these companies, depending on whether it is a State owned or privately owned centre.

As I have stated in answers to previous Dáil Questions, it is not possible to provide values for current contracts entered into by RIA. Negotiations take place with a number of commercial entities on an ongoing basis and RIA endeavours to achieve the best value for money in respect of each contract. It is not in the interests of the taxpayer that details of current individual contracts are known to the public or to other parties who are, or may be in the future, engaged in negotiations with RIA. Therefore, details of current contract rates are not provided. The policy is that the updating of the table of contracts will take place only at the end of January each year in respect of all financial information up to the end of December two years previously, e.g. at the end of January, 2013 the records are updated to end of December 2010. This policy has been upheld by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Nonetheless, it is possible to give a general indication of the rates currently paid. These rates are on a per person per day (PPPD) basis. Currently, the average PPPD rate for direct provision centres is €29.49 while the same contract rate for State-owned centres averages at €15.50.

The two PPPD rates cited above are not directly comparable. The direct provision rate is a single all-inclusive figure, which includes energy, maintenance, transport and VAT costs. By contrast, the State-owned rate does not include any of these costs, which are borne directly by the State and not by the contracted management company.

To illustrate the costs incurred by RIA overall, hereunder is a breakdown of the total expenditure of €62.329 million incurred by RIA in 2012. Note that this includes the costs of some centres which were closed during 2012.