Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1086. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if any commitment was ever given to anyone by the Department or the Minister that the number of international protection applicants placed in a facility (details supplied) would be limited to a certain capacity; if so what was the limit committed to and was that honoured; did he make any similar commitments for any other international protection applicant locations and if so, where and when [11607/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for this question. A response will be provided directly to the Deputy in the coming days.

The Deputy may wish to be aware that the Community Engagement Team has been established within my Department which stands ready to respond to queries of this nature, and they may be contacted directly at community@equality.gov.ie

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1087. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth following on from the reply received to Parliamentary Question No. 538 of 13 February 2024, what progress has been made since that reply by his Department regarding the purchase of a hotel (details supplied) to become a community hotel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11649/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I understand that the Local Authority is examining possible ways to bring a premises back into use in the area, including for use as a community hotel. The Deputy will be advised of progress as it is made.

As previously stated, a whole of government humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine and the increase in those seeking International Protection is ongoing, and a range of measures have been put in place to respond to local need and the potential pressures on services.

At a sectoral level, individual Departments have put in place processes to ensure there are systems to allow an appropriately targeted response to increased demands at local level.

These include additional resources and processes to support Education; Health; investment in local community facilities (Community Recognition Fund) and additional funding for communities through the Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1137. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of currently vacant beds within the IPAS system, by county, in tabular form. [12117/24]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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1171. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of vacant beds in existing IPAS centres and BOTPS centres, by county location, and the remaining number of occupied beds in those same centres, by county location, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12549/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1088, 1137 and 1171 together.

The Department of Integration does not collate current vacant beds by county due to the variable nature of the data which changes on an hourly basis. I can update the Deputy that the usable capacity available in the system over the last number of weeks has ranged between approximately 200 and 500 beds across 280 centers. This equates to approximately 8 days of arriving international protection applicants.

The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) continues to make every effort to maximise bed usage across its system. Where beds are not being utilised this can be for a number of reasons and includes family configuration, contract management issues, capacity to support triage and reception processes in circumstances where there is very limited line of sight on new accommodation for single male applicants, and spaces reserved for the accommodation of families and children arriving in the coming days.

IPAS releases weekly statistics in relation to IP applicants. This includes a per county breakdown of where IP applicants are residing.

These statistics are also published on gov.ie - IPAS Statistics (www.gov.ie)

There are nearly 28,000 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system as a whole (of whom 6,356 are children) compared with nearly 20,000 people at this time last year. Together with Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection displaced by the war in Ukraine, this means that Ireland is now accommodating over 100,000 people in state-supported accommodation. Since January 2022, the Department has brought over 200 additional properties into use to accommodate those who arrive in Ireland seeking IP.

Intensive efforts are being undertaken daily by staff in DCEDIY to source emergency accommodation. However, procuring enough bed space to keep pace with incoming arrivals remains extremely challenging, leading to the current accommodation shortage.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In response to the recent extreme weather, the Department of Integration provided temporary shelter for International Protection (IP) applicants who had been rough sleeping. This was done at a number of locations, some of which were night-time only. The arrangements were emergency in nature and ended after the 3rd March 2024.

It is important to note that recent commentary related to available beds in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system are inaccurate. All available beds are being utilised at present. Where beds are not being utilised this can be for a number of reasons and includes family configuration, capacity to support triage and reception processes or accommodation for families and children arriving in the coming days.

Department officials are working to bring more bed spaces into use. For context, at the end of January 2022 IPAS had 8,300 bed spaces in use; it now has approximately 28,000 beds in use. This does not account for further beds that had been provided to International Protection (IP) applicants in the interim in hotels that have since returned these beds to tourism.

Intensive efforts are being undertaken daily by staff in DCEDIY to source emergency accommodation. However, procuring enough bed space to keep pace with incoming arrivals remains extremely challenging, leading to the current accommodation shortage.

All IP applicants who present to the International Protection Office (IPO) during this period are assessed by IPAS and HSE staff for significant vulnerabilities and health issues, and prioritised for accommodation as necessary.

Drop-in day services are provided to all non-accommodated persons who wish to avail of them. In such centres, IP applicants can access facilities including hot showers, meals and laundry services seven days a week.

The Department has arrangements in place for the provision of these services with Mendicity, Crosscare, Capuchin Day Centre and Tiglin at the Lighthouse. The Department is in also in regular contact with the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, the Dublin Simon Community, Streetlink Homeless Support Outreach service and others, particularly with regard identification of particularly vulnerable individuals.