Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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920. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of persons in IPAS accommodation centres, by month, in the years 2023 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2421/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you for your question, Deputy.

Ireland is currently responding to an ongoing very significant increase in applications for international protection since 2022. The response has meant a 400% and ongoing increase in the capacity of the IPAS accommodation system, at the same time as the State responded to meeting accommodation and wider needs of over 100,000 people fleeing war in Ukraine.

The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) currently provides accommodation to almost 33,000 people at over 320 sites nationwide.

My Department continues to develop and source accommodation for people seeking international protection in locations all over the country, as part of implementing the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy for international protection.

The Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy aims to address the current serious shortfall in accommodation for people seeking international protection and to build a more sustainable system for the longer term.

Intensive efforts are underway to source and bring into use suitable accommodation facilities, and to move over time toward a greater provision of State-owned beds, in line with the strategy and the new Programme for Government.

Accommodation is being developed through the use of State land for prefabricated and modular units, conversion of commercial buildings, and targeted purchasing of turnkey properties. This work will also involve design and build of new Reception and Integration Centres and upgrading of IPAS Centres over time, all supplemented, as required, by high standard commercial providers.

Further breakdown of requested monthly figures are in the table provided below as requested by the Deputy.

Weekly and Monthly statistics are available on gov.ie at the link below:

Monthly Accommodation Figures:

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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921. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of Ukrainians living in State accommodation, by month, in the years 2023 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2422/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on providing access to emergency temporary accommodation to those fleeing the conflict who request it, in line with Government policy. This supports Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) to make longer term independent arrangements if they decide to remain in Ireland for the duration of the Temporary Protection Directive. To date, almost 114,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) have arrived in Ireland and almost 88,500 of those have been referred to this Department seeking accommodation from the State.

Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe was immensely challenging. Due to the urgent need to source accommodation, a broad range of accommodation types were contracted, hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs, hostels, self-catering accommodation and certain other repurposed settings.

All accommodation contracted by my Department is temporary in nature, and BOTPs are advised of this when requesting emergency accommodation.

The breakdown of the number of Ukrainians residing in DCEDIY-supported accommodation on the 1st of each month, in the years 2023 to date, is set out in the table below. Please note that DCEDIY-supported accommodation does not include BOTPs that are residing in pledged or Offer a Home accommodation.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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922. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number and total value of contracts to commercial providers of IPAS accommodation centres, by county, in the years 2022 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2423/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the question.

Extensive efforts are underway, within this Department and as part of a whole-of-Government response, to source and bring into use suitable facilities to provide shelter and safety to international protection applicants.

Providing reception conditions – accommodation and other basic supports – to applicants 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.

The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) currently provides accommodation to almost 33,000 people at over 320 sites nationwide.

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

As such, I regret that the information requested can't be supplied in the format requested. However, 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:

www.gov.ie/en/collection/dfdadb-department-of-children-and-youth-affairs-purchase-orders-for-20000-o/.

As part of these reports, the Deputy will find details of all payments from this Department over 20,000, with information on the payee, and whether the payment relates to international protection accommodation, or State-supported Ukraine accommodation.

IPAS also publishes weekly and monthly reports on 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

.