Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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275. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way the national standards for accommodation offered to persons in the protection process have operated since coming into effect at the start of 2021. [38796/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The National Standards, which came into force in January 2021, address a range of issues relating to accommodation; food and catering; individual, community and family life; health and wellbeing; governance; and meeting the special reception needs of applicants seeking international protection.

Independent living is central to the National Standards. The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) defines independent living as accommodation which provides self-catering facilities to enable residents to choose and prepare their own meals; and the availability of separate living room space for families to conduct normal family life outside of a bedroom environment. Laundry facilities for the use residents must also be available. Of the 46 direct provision accommodation centres around the country, 35 provide the full suite of independent living facilities. 11 of these centres are mostly or entirely comprised of self-contained, own-door accommodation units. In addition, nine of the 24 emergency centres that are currently in use provide cooking facilities and two provide own-door accommodation.

Compliance with the National Standards can only be adequately measured through on-site assessment. My Department is currently working with HIQA to establish an independent monitoring mechanism to assess accommodation centres against the National Standards. My officials are currently examining whether legislative change will be required to put this in place. It is hoped that HIQA will be able to begin monitoring shortly. In the meantime, the current system of inspections will continue.

My officials are also developing a tender process to secure additional accommodation for families and single people seeking international protection. A central aim of this process is to improve the quality of the accommodation and services offered to international protection applicants during the transition period while the new model set out in the White Paper to End Direct Provision and to establish a new International Protection Support Service is being put in place. Any new accommodation centres secured through this process will be required to comply with the National Standards and, more broadly, to align with the aims of the White Paper.