Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department has put in place plans to prevent an encampment developing outside Mount Street international protection office in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38094/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, earlier this year, a Government strategy was put in place to address the presence of tents and rough sleeping in the vicinity of the International Protection Office in Mount Street.

As part of this strategy, a joint operation involving the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; my Department; An Garda Síochána; Dublin City Council; the Office of Public Works; and the HSE took place on the 1st May 2024.

This exercise successfully ensured the safe movement of international protection applicants from tents on Mount Street to International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS)-designated accommodation.

A similar approach has since been applied to other city centre locations where similar situations have arisen.

As the Deputy will be aware, as part of the response in May, Dublin City Council and the Office of Public Works secured the area where tents have previously been placed with street furniture and traffic management measures.

The International Protection Office continues to liaise on an ongoing basis with the Garda authorities and with Dublin City Council in relation to the office in Mount Street and its environs.

More broadly, the situation in relation to accommodation remains extremely challenging, and the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is endeavouring to respond to the increase in the number of persons applying for protection and who are seeking accommodation. My Department liaises with and supports them in this work through exchange of information.

For my Department's part, this challenge clearly underlines how important it is to reduce processing times for international protection applications so as to reduce the length of time persons remain in IPAS accommodation.

As the Deputy will be aware , I am making very significant investments and streamlining in the international protection process to increase the number of decisions made, so that people can have their status determined in a timely way.