Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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920. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department can confirm the total number of persons who are permitted to reside in St. Anne's, Roscrea; if this facility is being considered as a potential site for the use of modular dwellings to house Ukrainian refugees or for persons seeking asylum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12846/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There are currently 96 international protection applicants (IPAs) residing in St. Anne's Roscrea as of week ending 12 March 2023.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) are currently developing a programme of rapid build homes on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth who are the Approving Authority for the programme.

St. Anne's in Roscrea is not currently being considered as a potential site for the location of these rapid build homes.

The OPW are the Sponsoring Agency for the purposes of rolling out the programme, with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage identifying sites that might be suitable.

Once sites are offered, an assessment is carried out in terms of location and access to local facilities. OPW then undertakes the necessary technical site assessments. When sites are confirmed as suitable, a programme of engagement is carried out by DCEDIY which involves meeting with Councillors and officials of local authorities, service providers, community groups etc. The OPW are responsible for site preparation and the acquisition and installation of the homes onto the sites.

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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921. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there are plans to allow asylum seekers to engage with homeless services at local authority-level, based on the outcomes of the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support including Accommodation to Persons in the International Protection Process. [12883/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Decisions on who is eligible to engage with homeless services are matters for the Minister for Housing.

As the Deputy will be aware, the response to the ongoing migration crisis has entered an extremely difficult phase, with no apparent accommodation for international protection applicants (IPAs) at scale available into the short term to medium term.

The overflow facility at the Citywest Transit Hub has reached capacity and it became necessary to pause arrival of new (IPAs) into the facility from 24 January.

The Department can confirm that there are currently 295 international protection applicants who have not been accommodated since the paused entry to Citywest came into effect on 24 January.

A total of 322 IPAs who were previously unaccommodated have since been accommodated.

IPAS is working intensively to procure additional emergency accommodation for those who have not been accommodated since the paused entry to Citywest began. IPAS are currently contacting people who have arrived on 13 February to offer them accommodation and are operating a strict queueing system in chronological order of arrival date to ensure fairness. Intensive efforts are being undertaken daily by staff in DCEDIY to source emergency accommodation. Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country. There have been over 90 accommodation locations utilised since January 2022 across 17 counties.