Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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266. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protection applicants residing in emergency beds by location; the number of single males; the number of single females; the number of families; the number of children under 18 years of age; the contact person for each centre in each case; the person or body by which each emergency location was secured; the ongoing Reception and Integration Agency relationship with the party or parties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4295/19]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The statistics Deputy Ó Caoláin requested are compiled in the following table. Families represent the following: couples with no children, one parent families and two parent families.

The Reception and Integration Agency of my Department has been encountering significant upward pressure on its accommodation portfolio. This pressure has increased further in recent months with an increase in the number of persons claiming international protection and a growth in the percentage of protection applicants who require assistance with accommodation. There are upwards of 700 persons residing in accommodation who have permission to remain in Ireland or who have received international protection status.

In order to ensure that the State can continue to provide material reception conditions for all protection applicants and continue to comply with the EU Reception Directive which was transposed into Irish law in June of this year, RIA has, since last September, arranged for the provision of emergency beds where the mainstream accommodation centres were at capacity. This was done by contacting a large number of accommodation providers and also through a national print advertisement seeking expressions of interest for providing emergency accommodation on a short term basis. RIA is hoping to increase the capacity of the mainstream system by opening new centres.

The contact person given for each emergency short term accommodation provider is usually the hotel management. RIA does not have exclusive use of any of these emergency hotels and they continue to operate as commercial entities. Applicants are accommodated there for a short period before they are moved into mainstream accommodation system where they will have full access to all the services provided by the State to protection applicants. Staff in my Department and other Departments and agencies that provide assistance are in close contact with the management of each hotel to ensure that needs are met as necessary.