Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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445. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of persons including children seeking international protection who have been required to quarantine in hotels on arrival in Ireland from 1 October 2021 to date in November 2021; the number of persons that have been required to quarantine beyond 14 days; if those who receive a negative PCR test no earlier than five days after arrival are permitted to exit quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57411/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The below table provides the number of adults and children in the international protection process that have been required to quarantine from 1October 2021 to 19November 2021. The table is broken down by length of time spent in quarantine, as requested by the Deputy.

Time period in quarantine

While mandatory quarantine arrangements have now been stepped down to a large degree, the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS), in consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Public Health, continues to retain a number of quarantine facilities in the Dublin region. This is a precautionary measure to mitigate against the risk of COVID, and any new variants, entering the National Reception Centre in Balseskin and the wider IPAS accommodation network. In agreement with the HSE and Public Health authorities at the beginning of October, the length of quarantine required for new arrivals to be cleared for transfer to Balseskin has been reduced from 14 days to 5 days, subject to two negative PCR tests on Days 1 and 5 respectively.

Due to capacity issues arising from higher than predicted numbers of new arrivals some residents may still experience delays in their transfer to Balseskin but IPAS officials assure me they are actively working through these issues with the various stakeholders involved.

The services provided by IPAS are, of course, demand-led and, as demand is currently running higher than predicted, these arrangements are being kept under daily review by my officials to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation to house new arrivals in the State seeking international protection.

The Deputy will appreciate that the mandatory hotel quarantine that was previously in operation for visitors from designated countries required them to pre-book their quarantine accommodation before their arrival in the state. In contrast to this, IPAS is dealing with, on an around-the-clock basis, the referred and unannounced arrivals of new applicants by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), the International Protection Office (IPO), Garda Stations or any other ports of entry. The family composition can range from a single person to a large extended family whose arrival at any time of day or night can often pose a challenge for IPAS and the other support bodies.

Nevertheless, all accommodation requests are dealt with in a timely manner and IPAS make sure that every new applicant is accommodated within an hour of their arrival in a safe environment without any delay.