Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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500. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the budget that has been granted to the International Protection Accommodation Services to meet the housing need of persons arriving here from Ukraine; the number of contracts for service the International Protection Accommodation Services has entered into for housing and catering services in respect of same; the duration of each contract; and if he will provide a schedule of all contracted service providers in this regard. [25885/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine on February 24, and the invoking of the Temporary Protection Directive shortly thereafter, my Department has been working intensively as part of the cross-Government response to the Ukraine crisis.

My Department is focused on providing short-term accommodation to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Approximately 22 000 people have been placed in International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) accommodation to date.

The Government has agreed that where funding requirements to meet the costs of the humanitarian response cannot be met through reprioritisation of existing resources, they will in the first instance be met from the remaining €2.5 billion space in the Covid contingency fund. My Department will be engaging with DPER in relation to finalising the budget allocation for this spending in this regard.

As of 19 May 2022, my Department has contractual arrangements in place with circa 305 accommodation services. In most instances, these providers either provide in-house catering or subcontract catering services. My Department has a small number of Facilities Management services in place with providers, which can include a catering element.

The duration of accommodation contracts vary according to individual agreements with providers, with most current contracts being of a three to six month duration. As there are commercial sensitivities around the duration of individual contracts, I am not in a position to provide details on specific contract duration.

I set out below a link to a schedule of providers, as of 23 May 2022, which currently provide accommodation on behalf of the Department, excluding certain providers procured directly by Local Authorities and certain accommodation utilised for very short term stays.

The Deputy will be aware that further accommodation, including student accommodation, will become available in due course.