Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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131. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding any further plans for the development of IPAS centres; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6933/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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132. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the criteria by which a particular building or location is assessed and selected as being suitable for use as an IPAS centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6934/26]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 131 and 132 together.

The Department is taking action across all aspects of the international protection accommodation system to improve value for money, strengthen governance and compliance, and renegotiate contracts with providers.

This work forms part of an overall reform of the International Protection system that is already working to speed up processing of applications and to increase provision of State-owned accommodation.

Developing more State-owned options will allow us to move away from the current degree of reliance on commercial provision. The purchase of the Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre in 2025 was an important milestone in this strategy, and increased State-owned beds to 4,000 in 2025, compared to 700 in early 2024.

While commissioning emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be necessary in the short to medium term, it is being contracted on a short-term basis, which will enable the State to decommission this capacity with agility as State-owned beds increase, contracts expire or demand fluctuates.

Extensive challenges were posed to the State in sourcing international protection accommodation during an unprecedented surge in applications from 2022 to 2024 and new centres had to be sourced and developed in that period to meet urgent need.

Applications for international protection reduced during 2025, and this has supported our work to put in place greater controls over the IPAS accommodation portfolio.

The Department continues to appraise the portfolio of existing accommodation with a view to consolidation where possible, along with better governance and compliance.

Across the system, a range of updated systems and procedures for appraisal, validation, contracting and payments have been put in place and are already having an impact.

The introduction of a new rate card model in May 2025 is driving costs down for new and renewed contracts, already saving over €76 million up to December last year. It is being applied to each contract as it comes up for renewal.

The Department receives offers of international protection accommodation on an ongoing basis from external commercial providers. All offers are reviewed by the Department under a standardised appraisal procedure.

A dedicated team appraises each offer to accommodate people seeking international protection, and the Department carries out due diligence on the provider who is offering the accommodation service.

This includes checks on the provider offering the service to the Department via the Companies Registration Office (CRO) to ensure compliance with CRO requirements.

Providers must be registered in Ireland. Providers may be part of wider commercial groups and may also be operating in other EU member states, in line with EU principles of free movement of goods, services, and works.

Since 2024, each new or renewing provider of accommodation services must provide a declaration of their personal circumstances. This declaration, which must be notarised, confirms that they are tax compliant, free of any convictions for corruption, fraud or being a member of a criminal organisation. It also confirms that they are solvent and have no history of failing to meet terms of public service contracts, among other requirements.

In relation to contracts ending, IPAS regularly engages with centres to ensure compliance with contracts and standards, with a dual eye on safety and welfare of residents, while also ensuring value for money and compliance by providers.

Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in mid-2026. Reforming and speeding up processing of applications should serve over time to reduce the scale of the demand for international protection accommodation, as was seen in recent years.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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133. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of IPAS centres that are currently operating in the country, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6938/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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134. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of IPAS centres operating in the country in each of the years 2023 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6939/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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135. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons accommodated in IPAS centres, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6940/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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139. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the locations of all the IPAS centres currently in operation in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6946/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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140. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the locations of all the IPAS centres currently in operation in the country; the breakdown of the number of people living in each centre, by gender, nationality and whether they are adults or children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6947/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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150. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of IPAS centres that are currently operating in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6957/26]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 134, 135, 139, 140 and 150 together.

All applicants for international protection are entitled to material reception conditions under EU and Irish law.

The State is currently accommodating 33,215 people in 312 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres around the country, and over 9,700 of these residents are children.

Numbers of residents and centres will fluctuate over time, depending on when data is collected or available for publication.

Table 1: The number of IPAS centres providing accommodation for international protection at year-end, 2023-2025

However, IPAS publishes weekly statistics in relation to international protection applicants accommodated by IPAS, which, like the information above, gives a regular update on numbers of centres and residents, and information on people accommodated by county.

These statistics are located on the Gov.ie website: www.gov.ie/en/international-protection-accommodation-services-ipas/publications/facts-and-figures/

Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in mid-2026. Reforming and speeding up processing of applications should also serve over time to reduce the scale of the demand for international protection accommodation.

The Department is also working to increase the amount of State-owned international protection accommodation and creating a more stable and sustainable accommodation system overall.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons currently living in Ireland under the Temporary Protection Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6941/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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137. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that have been accommodated in Ireland under the Temporary Protection Directive since this scheme was established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6942/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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138. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons accommodated in Ireland under the Temporary Protection Directive which have since formally left the State and withdrawn from this support; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6943/26]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 136, 137 and 138 together.

Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection hold temporary permission to remain in Ireland, renewable annually for as long as the Directive remains in force.

On 15 July 2025, the Justice and Home Affairs Council extended Temporary Protection by a year until March 2027, providing certainty for beneficiaries who can continue to avail of the protections that the Directive provides.

As of 25 January 2026, a total of 124,641 individuals were granted Temporary Protection by my Department. Of these 4,761 have voluntarily withdrawn from Temporary Protection which involves returning the original Temporary Protection Certificate. Over 94,000 people have been provided with access to accommodation.

All accommodation contracted by my Department is temporary in nature and subject to change, and people are advised of this when requesting access to temporary accommodation.

As of 26 January 2026, almost 19,700 are currently in State-supported accommodation. Of these, 186 people are staying in time-bound Designated Accommodation Centres.

In addition, as of the same date, there were almost 23,500 active Accommodation Recognition Payment claims in payment in respect of persons hosting approx. 42,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine.

As there are no routine exit checks on people leaving the State it is not possible to say how many beneficiaries of temporary protection have left Ireland in total. However, the Deputy may also wish to be aware that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has a publication which focuses on the estimated number of Ukrainians present in the country and can be accessed here: www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/fp/p-aui/arrivalsfromukraineinirelandseries17/.

*Figures are correct at the time of issue but may be subject to data cleansing.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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141. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of international protection applicants in Ireland in 2023, 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6948/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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142. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of international protection applicants in Ireland, by the country the applicants are from, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6949/26]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 142 together.

It has not been possible to collate the information requested by the Deputy in the time available. I will write to the Deputy directly once the information is to hand.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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143. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of international protection applicants that have been granted international protection status, by the country the applicants are from in 2023, 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6950/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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144. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of international protection applicants that have been refused international protection status, by the country the applicants are from in 2023, 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6951/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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145. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of international protection applicants that have been refused international protection status in 2023, 2024 and 2025, that are currently under appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6952/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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146. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of international protection applicants that are currently awaiting a decision on whether they have been granted international protection status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6953/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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147. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the average length of time an international protection applicant had to wait to get a decision on their application in 2023, 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6954/26]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 to 147, inclusive, together.

There has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system which, combined with digitisation and process re-engineering, has facilitated a major increase in processing capacity.

In 2025, the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered over 20,200 first decisions compared to approximately 14,100 in 2024: a 44% increase. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) more than doubled the number of appeals closed from 3,100 in 2024 to nearly 6,300 in 2025.

Ireland has opted in to the EU Asylum and Migration Pact which will come into effect in June this year. The Pact will provide a fair, sustainable and efficient asylum procedure. This will be achieved through convergence in asylum practices across the EU, and through the introduction of streamlined and faster processing times.

To prepare for its introduction, a phased transition that mirrors elements of the Pact is currently underway. As of January 8, there were 839 applications, and 623 decisions, with 541 or 87% being refused. These refusals have resulted in 190 DOs being signed, and 24 voluntary returns confirmed so far.

The average processing time from when an application is lodged to a first-instance decision is 29 days. From application to appeal decision it is 50 days and from application to having a signed Deportation Order it is 59 days.

This represents a significant shift from the current median processing times in the IPO and IPAT.

The table below details IPO first instance median processing time in months from 2023 to 2025.

The table below details IPAT median processing time in months from 2023 to 2025.

The table below details first instance decisions made in the IPO from 2023 – 2025. My Department does not provide detailed statistics on international protection grant and refusal rates by nationality. Please note that there is not a direct correlation between the year an application was made and the year the decision issued.

*To COB 21 January 2026.

All data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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148. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the number of staff that are employed in the international protection office, broken down by grade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6955/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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149. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the financial cost of operating the international protection office in 2023, 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6956/26]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 149 together.

It is a central priority for me that our immigration system is robust and enforced.

There has been significant investment across the end-to-end international protection process in the last number of years to improve efficiencies and throughput as well as enhancing the application, interview and decision-making process for applicants. There has also been investment in ICT capital expenditure and process improvements.

This investment has already demonstrated results. In 2025, the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered over 20,200 first decisions compared to approximately 14,100 in 2024: a 44% increase while the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) more than doubled the number of appeals closed from 3,100 in 2024 to nearly 6,300 in 2025.

The table below shows expenditure (pay and non-pay) for the International Protection Office (IPO) from 2023 to 2025.

* IPO was set up as a separate cost centre in 2024. Prior to that it was included as a division within the immigration cost centres so the 2023 figure is estimated.

The IPO is also supported through centralised functions including ICT investment in modernisation and automated process improvements, HR and recruitment, Finance, Corporate Facilities, Policy, and Legal services among others.

The IPO utilises both staff and panel members to meet service needs. A total of 627 staff are currently employed which represents an increase of 338% on 2019 staffing.

The grade breakdown is as follows:

PO – Principal Officer

AP – Assistant Principal

PTP – Professional Technical Post

HEO – Higher Executive Officer

AO – Administrative Officer

EO – Executive Officer

CO – Clerical Officer

TCO – Temporary Clerical Officer

In addition, there are 165 panel members contracted by the International Protection Office.