Written answers

Tuesday, 7 December 2021

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

International Protection

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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415. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 624 of 19 October 2021, the number of properties sourced to date for international protection applicants, broken down by whether these properties are within the private rental sector or not, in tabular form. [60527/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Over the last number of months the Transition Team has been working closely with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Housing Agency and the Local Authorities on developing the new accommodation model. This has included putting in place a policy to source and acquire properties. As part of this policy there is an emphasis on not competing with other groups including the private rental sector and the following has been put in place to mitigate against this:

- A focus has been placed on acquiring accommodation across the country and not focusing on one area. A Local Authority allocation key has been developed to help in this regard.

- A focus on larger properties, reflecting an interest in acquiring units where up to 10 people can be accommodated.

- Before proceeding with a property the profile of the current occupier is confirmed. If the property has sitting tenants, my Department does not proceed with purchasing the property.

As the project develops there will also be a focus on repurposing buildings through an urban renewal scheme which will aid in the rejuvenation of some of our towns across the country.

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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416. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 624 of 19 October 2021, the engagements that have occurred with approved housing bodies in relation to sourcing accommodation for international protection applicants. [60528/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Transition Team established in my Department to drive the implementation of the White Paper is currently working on establishing the foundation for the new accommodation model for International Protection applicants. This includes devising an ownership model for the accommodation that will be acquired and a funding scheme to enable Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and other not-for-profit organisations to act as our delivery partners.

Engagement has been with the Housing Agency with regard to the purchasing of accommodation for International Protection applicants. Work is being undertaken to develop a funding scheme for which AHBs will be able to bid to source accommodation for International Protection applicants. Once the scheme has been developed, there will be engagement with AHBs in early 2022 to promote the scheme to them so that they can begin to use it from 2022 onward to source accommodation.

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