Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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639. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a full cost benefit analysis has been carried out on the use of rural hotels for IPAS accommodation; the additional cost of the provision of transport for such facilities; if the use of rural settings is a good use of public funds based on the additional costs associated with the transport and additional services required in such rural settings; if she will review the use of public funds in this manner; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15229/25]

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

Ireland currently provides accommodation to over 33,000 people applying for international protection and has also welcomed over 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. Our accommodation systems have been forced to expand at a rapid pace over the last two years in response to a sharp increase in need among both groups. The over 114,000 people who arrived from Ukraine, and a significant increase since 2022 in applications for international protection, have come at a time when accommodation in Ireland is in short supply across all dimensions.

Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country, and intensive efforts were made, as part of a whole of Government response, to ensure people in need were provided with shelter and support.

Over the last 2 years, against this backdrop of unique events in Ukraine, increased need, and the acute shortages of accommodation, it has rarely been an option for my Department to apply specific selection policies in relation to distribution of accommodation centres. However, having the opportunity to look at matters like more control over geographical dispersal is a direction which we wish to move toward, as we work toward a more stable and sustainable accommodation system in this sector.

The Department engages with relevant stakeholders and accommodation service providers as appropriate to ensure that international protection applicants placed in accommodation in areas at a remove from urban or town centres will have access to transportation for basic requirements. The International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS) try to ensure in as far as possible that International Protection (IP) applicants are not located in very remote locations. However, given the current demand for accommodation, this is not always possible.

Where a proposed centre is more than 2.5km from the nearest large town centre or inaccessible to the town centre by local transportation links or walking, IPPS request a full and comprehensive transport plan from the provider, including a timetable of services, which is then assessed. The provider will also provide access to transport to and from emergency medical and post-surgical appointments.

The cost of accommodation provision contracts, to the Department, is inclusive of transport, facilities management, utilities and other related items and services, but my Department does not routinely collate statistics on transport costs within the IPAS system.

Huge efforts are underway to source and bring into use suitable longer-term international protection accommodation facilities, in line with the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy.

Trends in the need for accommodation are now changing, for example, the level of need among people from Ukraine has reduced and is expected to continue to do so. Properties are being returned to their former use, for example in tourism, hospitality and education, and to private use. Recent figures from Fáilte Ireland show that in 2024, over 12,000 beds were returned from use by my Department's Ukraine response to tourism. These were among 15,000 beds returned to private use by the Ukraine team in the period.

This should allow growth of the tourism sector in the areas concerned, with an acknowledgment of the contribution made by these areas and providers to support the historic humanitarian and State response to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Since March 2024, this Government-approved strategy for international protection accommodation has been in implementation. Accommodation is being developed and delivered through a range of channels.

it is hoped that the degree of control given to the State by the creation of core supply of State-owned accommodation, of both emergency and permanent options, will increase as supply is delivered, re-establishing strategic direction over the accommodation type, location and dispersal pattern.