Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 102 of 17 November 2022, if the mentioned training has been provided within temporary IPAS-contracted properties such as hotels or guesthouses. [59363/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In the first instance I would like to confirm that anyone working in properties contracted temporarily by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) is subject to the same training and vetting as any official working in my department.

I would like to inform you of recent developments in this area:

A dedicated IPAS centre Training Officer was recently appointed in August 2022. A number of training courses were delivered to Centre Managers and Emergency Centre Managers in the past two years.

These courses included ‘Understanding Child Development through a Trauma Informed Lens’ by Barnardo's, delivered to 292 centre staff, and ‘Refugee Mental Wellbeing Awareness Training’ by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), delivered to 82 centre managers. These will continue to be run, with more scheduled again in the coming months.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that every official in my department is subject to Garda vetting and training on an ongoing basis. I would also like to reiterate that IPAS are fully compliant with vetting of staff working in IPAS accommodation centres.

I trust that this information can give you the necessary reassurance in regard to staff vetting and training in temporary IPAS contracted accommodation.