Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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458. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline the exact procedures for payment of accommodation providers when new circumstances arise (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10209/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Deputy, The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) contracts the agreed capacity for an IPAS centre and this is specified in the individual contract.

Payments under this agreement, inclusive of VAT, is made every four weeks for the number of beds specified in the contract. This amount is an all-inclusive sum in respect of provision of accommodation and all other services outlined in this agreement. If beds are taken out of use by the contractor for more than 14 days without good cause, the rate is reduced by 50% for those beds for the period that the beds are unavailable.

When new accommodation is procured and contracts are signed, IPAS receives details of the capacity/room configurations. That accommodation is then allocated as quickly as possible, based on the configurations, to those who require it.

As IPAS accommodation is demand led, it can be the case that where the latest arrivals are all single males and there is family only accommodation available, the family only accommodation may not be filled at the outset. It could also be the case that the available accommodation is suitable for smaller families and only larger families have recently arrived.

IPAS works continuously to match residents to the available accommodation to ensure accommodation capacity is utilised in the most effective manner.

Once an accommodation location is in use, the accommodation provider is required to provide weekly returns to IPAS outlining any vacancies that have arisen, which IPAS then uses to accommodate IPAs at the earliest opportunity. If there is a delay in IPAS assigning residents to the vacancies, the accommodation provider is paid in full for the vacant spaces.