Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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201. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when the tender document for the management of the new IPAS centre at Thornton Hall was published; the number of companies that tendered for the contract; the other companies that tendered for the contract; which company tendered with the lowest price; the determining factor in the success of the IEMS winning this contract; and if a company (details supplied) was a registered company when it won this contract; and if the company or another company won any other contracts within IPAS, his Department or with the Department of Justice. [41678/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department is progressing works for the accommodation centre, for people applying for IP, at Thornton Hall.

An accelerated procurement process begun in May 2024 for Thornton Hall. Three competent facilities management operators were invited to submit proposals for the creation of suitable tented accommodation, and ancillary services. The successful tenderer would thereafter operate the site. The proposals were assessed on quality of service, and cost with 60% of the total marks being allocated to the former, and 40% being allocated to the latter.

The proposal by IEMS Ltd was preferred with respect to both quality of service, and cost. An email was sent on 27 May 2024, notifying the provider of the contract award.

The Department does not routinely provide information identifying the number of sites operated by a specific service provider.

Information on payments for IPAS accommodation is available on the gov.ie/IPAS website , and while specific individual contractual arrangements are considered commercially sensitive, the Department publishes reports on all payments over €20,000. These reports are published quarterly.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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202. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total cost of the provision of IPAS accommodation for each of the past five years; and the fees paid to the ten largest suppliers of services, construction and property in each of the past five years. [41679/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Over recent years, Ireland, alongside many other EU Member States and other countries, has experienced a very significant increase in people seeking International Protection (IP).

The Government and this Department is making every effort to accommodate people seeking international protection against this backdrop of unprecedented demand. This is part of Irish and EU law and is also part of our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution in their home country.

At the moment, there are over 32,000 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system,, of whom approximately 9,000 are children. At the end of August 2022, by comparison, our system was accommodating approximately 7,000 people.

The increase in costs over recent years aligns to the increased numbers of people needing accommodation. The below costs include all accommodation and related costs, including transport, facilities management and other related expenditure.

Please see, in tabular format, the costs for IPAS Accommodation for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 as of 11 October respectively:

Contractual arrangements between the Department and external providers are considered commercially sensitive. In order to preserve the Department's negotiating position, the costs paid to providers are not published, as making this data available to other accommodation providers would not serve the public interest.

The Public Sector Reform Plan requires that government departments and agencies publish online reports detailing Purchase Orders (PO) relating to payments for goods, services or works procured to a value greater than €20,000. These are published, once per quarter, on gov.ie

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The Department does not provide a further breakdown of these payments at this time.