Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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247. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of critical incidents reported to his Department in relation to the accommodation or welfare of beneficiaries of temporary protection and international protection; the breakdown of reports per month since March 2022 to date in 2023; the nature of the reported issues; and the number still under investigation. [15970/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Thank you for your correspondence. My officials will require more time to collate the information in order to answer this query. My officials will contact the Deputy with the details as soon as it is complete.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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248. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of providers of emergency accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection and international protection that are currently contracted by his Department in each county; the standards being used to determine their suitability; the number of contracted accommodation locations that have been inspected to assess their suitability; and if he will clarify whether HIQA has the authority to inspect the centres. [15971/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Please see the number of emergency accommodation locations in use for international protection applicants per County in tabular format below:

The information for locations of emergency accommodation for Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection can be found here:

In relation to the standards being used to determine the suitability of accommodation locations, in relation to permanent (non-emergency) IPAS centres, IPAS has taken steps to support adherence to the National Standards through its contract arrangements with accommodation centres. All properties selected under IPAS’ most recent tender process are required to be able to implement the National Standards. The National Standards meet the requirements of the relevant legislation – the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive which Ireland opted into in June 2018. These standards were adopted by Government in 2019 and have been in effect since the beginning of 2021.

Emergency accommodation centres are not subject to inspections on a regular basis due to the nature of the contractual arrangement with them.

In relation to BOTP accommodation, the priority is to place people fleeing the war in safe and secure accommodation.

I am advised by my officials that as part of our contractual arrangements with accommodation providers we set out a number of requirements which providers must meet in terms of service provision, including delivery of key services, laundry, meals (including cultural/dietary requirements) in serviced accommodation and cooking facilities in self-catering accommodation, and compliance with all obligations in terms of health and safety, child protection etc. Any alleged breaches of the foregoing are investigated by the Department.

It is the Government's intention that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) will monitor permanent International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres against national standards as part of transitional arrangements for moving to the new model. It is important that compliance with the national standards should be measured through on-site assessment. Planning is well advanced on this process.

My Department has worked intensively with HIQA over the past two years to prepare for its monitoring role, and it is my intention that HIQA will commence inspections in 2023 once legislation is in place.