David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 261 to 263, inclusive, together.

Some 12% of the people currently residing in the accommodation centres provided by RIA, over 700 people, have permission to remain in Ireland. The fact that people are staying in the centres for some time after they receive permission to remain is a situation that is putting increased pressure on the system as new arrivals have to be accommodated.

Where an individual or family has permission to remain in Ireland they can access the mainstream housing supports and services on the same basis as nationals/European Economic Area nationals.

Considerable work continues to be done to support residents with status to move out of accommodation centres and to secure permanent accommodation in the community.

A number of NGOs have been awarded monies under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) specifically to assist and support residents with international protection status move out of accommodation centres into longer term accommodation.

In particular, funding was granted to the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Peter McVerry Trust under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund Ireland 2017 - 2019 for the PATHS project (Providing Asylum-seekers in Transition with Housing and Support).

Further information on funding provided by AMIF can be found on the Department's website.

My Department has also provided funding to South Dublin County Partnership for a two year housing and integration programme, a key part of which is to assist residents, who have received permission to remain, to access housing supports. The amount of funding provided in 2018 was €100,000.

Additionally, under a pilot project, the Department of Justice and Equality has provided funding and is working with DePaul Ireland who provide supports in a number of accommodation centres to residents with permission to remain. Part of their role is to assist residents to access accommodation in the wider community and offer resettlement support to ensure there is a decrease in tenancy breakdown. The amount of funding provided in 2018 was €45,034.

The statistical data the Deputy has requested is compiled on an annual basis and has not yet been finalised for 2018. However, as of 9th December 2018, there were a total of 5997 persons staying in accommodation provided by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), Department of Justice and Equality. My Department has attached a document which details the duration of stay per centre for end of December 2017.

Historical information is available from the Annual Reports of the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department which are available on their website.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Following on from recommendations 4.75 and 4.87 contained in the McMahon Report, the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department has worked with contractors to introduce cooking facilities into accommodation centres within their portfolio.

To date, the following centres have introduced independent living where residents are provided with food ingredients and have access to cooking facilities in order for them to prepare their own meals:

In addition to the above, a number of centres provide cooking facilities for residents who provide their own ingredients. The centres who provide this are:

The latest statistics available show that at the 11th December 2018, there were 5,997 persons accommodated in direct provision. This means that nearly 54% of residents have access to cooking facilities and 35% access to the independent living model where residents are provided ingredients and access to cooking facilities.

In order to meet the accommodation needs in the longer term, the Department has recently commenced a public procurement exercise under which public tenders for the provision of accommodation and ancillary services to persons in the protection process, by way of the independent living model, will be advertised. This process is scheduled to continue throughout 2019 and is due for completion in 2020. This will be delivered via a series of regional competitions to cover the entire State. Under this competition, all successful bids must provide residents with the option of preparing their own meals as part of their proposal.