Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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A new local integration model has been developed in collaboration with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), the City and County Management Authority (CCMA) and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). The model centres on a new national network of four person Local Authority Integration Teams (LAITs), funded by DCEDIY, to be located in each local authority.

The role of the teams is to provide ongoing integration supports to International Protection applicants, Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection, and Programme Refugees and to better help them engage with existing local services. The role also includes:

Providing information, advice and guidance to individuals;

Linking individuals with mainstream and NGO services; and

Identifying gaps in supports or services.

The role of the LAITs is not intended to replace existing service provision but to facilitate and support accessing services.

The annual cost per Local Authority for the LAITS is €330,000. This includes funding for one Integration Support Coordinator, two Integration Support Workers and one Administrative support. Recruitment for the LAITs began in 2023 with a small number of posts filled by the end of the year. The total cost for 2023 was approximately €100,000.

Recruitment for the LAITs is ongoing with Local Authorities actively engaged in selection and interview processes. Currently eight Local Authorities have full teams in place and a further eight Local Authorities are due to have teams in place by the end of February.

While recruitment and on-boarding is still active across the majority of the Local Authorities, it is predicted that there will be a certain amount of personnel movement. As a result, which Local Authorities who have their teams fully in place is not static. However I can confirm that all Local Authorities have engaged with the process, the majority have held interviews and almost all have, at a minimum, advertised the posts.