Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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282. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the amount paid to each direct provision operator in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42080/19]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The International Protection Procurement Services (IPPS) unit of my Department is responsible for the procurement of accommodation and ancillary services for persons in the protection process. This role of this unit was formerly incorporated in the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), which is now known as International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).

All accommodation centres for people seeking international protection, whether State-owned or privately owned, are operated by commercial companies. There are currently 38 accommodation centres being operated under the direct provision system.

IPPS contracts for an all-inclusive service, which includes catering services, as well as cleaning, security, maintenance and laundry services. Extensive and detailed information on the amount paid by my Department to each company contracted to provide direct provision accommodation every year up to and including 2015 can be found on the IPAS website under the 'Contract Values' section of the website. This is in accordance with the IPAS' policy on the disclosure of financial information, which was agreed with the Office of the Information Commissioner.

The Deputy will appreciate that it is not appropriate to provide values for current contracts entered into by my Department. Negotiations take place with a number of commercial entities on an ongoing basis with a clear focus on achieving the best value for money in respect of each contract. It is not in the interests of yielding best value for the taxpayer that details of current individual contracts are made available to other commercial bodies who are, or may be in the future, engaged in these negotiations.