Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Ireland has responded to the largest displacement of people on the European continent since the Second World War. Since February 2022, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-government humanitarian response to assist over 85,000 arrivals fleeing the war in Ukraine, including 62,000 that have sought accommodation from this Department.

Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe for all those who require it remains immensely challenging. Due to the urgent need to source accommodation, my Department has contracted in excess of 47,000 beds to accommodate Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) in more than 770 settings including hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs, hostels, commercial self-catering accommodation and certain other repurposed settings.

The priority is to place people fleeing the war in safe and secure accommodation.

Student Accommodation – Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BoTPs)

I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has contracted more than 5,000 student accommodation beds at various locations nationwide for use during the summer months. My Department has implemented a strategy to leverage student accommodation in the most effective way throughout the summer with student accommodation allocated where existing contracts are ending and for new arrivals. We have already commenced using student accommodation and, thus far in 2023, over 1,400 beneficiaries have been accommodated in student accommodation settings. The information requested has been extracted from our records and is provided in tabular form below.

In addition, I can also confirm to the Deputy that a property (Cork Student Village) has contracted with my Department for BoTP accommodation provision through the formal offer submission process for a 12 month period.

Student Accommodation – International Protection (IP)

The Department is availing of any offer of accommodation made to it, including the use of office buildings and sports facilities, to address the accommodation shortfall. The Department has reached out to other Government Departments such as the Department of Education for school and third level institution facilities; the Department of Defence for unused barracks and buildings; the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media for sporting and arts facilities; the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Office of Public Works for buildings that can be used to accommodate people. Many of the offers that have come through these requests have resulted in accommodation, both temporary and longer term.

The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) is in temporary contractual arrangements with one University. This is on a phased basis, with 100 international protection applicant’s (IPA’s) residing in student accommodation as at 11^thJune 2023. It is anticipated that capacity will be increased in the coming weeks. However, the properties will be vacated in September in order to return to their primary use as student accommodation. These options are necessary in order to provide shelter to international protection arrivals, to meet basic needs and to prevent homelessness.

I trust this information is of assistance.