Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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1290. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide details on the progress and location of the establishment of the six State reception centres which were recommended in the White Paper on Ending Direct Provision. [2066/25]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In recent years, Ireland has seen a sharp increase in applications for international protection, with over 13,000 in 2022 and 2023 and over 17,000 in 2024. IPAS now accommodates over 32,000 people, and 1 in every 4 is a child with their family. The increased number of arrivals, alongside the invasion of Ukraine and arrival of over 113,000 people affected since 2022, have placed profound pressures on available accommodation for people in need of State-provided shelter and support.

Because of these extreme challenges in providing accommodation, there was a recognition that the underlying assumptions on which the White Paper was based required re-assessment, as the assumptions underpinning it are based on 3500 new arrivals each year. The context of the accommodation challenge over the past 3 years as outline above formed the rationale for the review. A review of the timelines and deliverables was initiated, including the urban renewal targets, the community accommodation strand and the original 6 centre target.

On the 27th March 2024 Government agreed a new Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy (CAS) for International Protection applicants. The strategy seeks to address the current accommodation shortfall, while reforming the system over the longer term to ensure the State will always be able to meet its international commitments.

Accommodation in the new strategy will be delivered through the following multi-strand approach:

1. Use of State land for prefabricated and modular units

2. Conversion of commercial buildings

3. Targeted purchase of medium and larger turnkey properties

4. Design and build of new Reception and Integration Centres

5. Upgrading of IPAS Centres

The multi-strand approach focuses on both increasing State owned permanent capacity, and the upgrading of additional contingency accommodation, developed to specific national standards, to build an effective system to meet the new realities of increasing need while enabling the State to discharge its duty to meet the material reception conditions of IP Applicants, according to the guiding principles of the White Paper.

Progression of the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy will be a matter for the new government and my immediate successor as Minister.

In order to deal with the demand led nature of the system, the commissioning of emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be a feature in the short to medium term. This accommodation will be contracted on shorter-term basis and if application numbers drop, can be decommissioned as contracts expire. It is planned that as new State owned and permanent commercial accommodation comes on stream the use of this emergency accommodation will reduce.

Once sufficient State owned accommodation has been delivered over the coming years, and emergency accommodation reduced substantially, the Government may, at that point, seek to reduce further the proportion of remaining permanent accommodation delivered by commercial providers and move to a fully or predominately State owned system.

In terms of new accommodation numbers the table below details the proposed various accommodation types, capacity and ownership.

Since approval of the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy the department has been focused on progressing the prioritisation of particular elements of the multi-strand approach.

The delivery of prefabricated and modular units on state lands has been prioritised by the department as a vehicle that can quickly deliver accommodation at national standards. The first project under this programme was the delivery of 40 modular units (320 beds) to replace tents on the Columb Barracks site. A contract to develop the site was awarded at the end of May 2024 and the 320 beds were handed over on the 20th December 2024. This would represent a delivery time frame of just over six months from awarding of contract to full delivery, which represents a hitherto fore unseen speed of delivery.

To build on this work a procurement process to form a framework for the delivery of modular/prefabricated units on other state lands has been launched. Alongside this a lot of engagement has taken place to identify and negotiate the use of State-owned sites and all are being assessed potentially for their viability for modular/prefabricated accommodation. To date five sites have been licensed to the department including Crooksling, River Lodge, Heatherside (HSE), Thornton Hall (IPS) and Lissywoolen, Athlone (OPW).

An Expression of Interest (EOI) process was launched on the 30th April 2024 by the Department for the sourcing of suitable properties for acquisition or lease. 93 submissions have been received to date. A team of technical experts has been mobilised to assess the viability of submissions received and prioritise properties that could be available in the short-term.

In addition work is ongoing to identify supply pipelines for commercial conversions, including empty office buildings, assessment of state owned properties for suitability to refurbish and engaging on the acquisition of some large scale properties that have come to the department through direct sourcing.