The annual State spend in accommodating International Protection (IP) applicants last year topped €1 billion for the first time.
The daily average spend of €2.75 million per day in accommodating IP applicants is revealed in new figures provided by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Norma Foley TD.
In the figures provided to Aontu’s Peadar Tóibín they show that the spend of €1.005bn last year was a 54pc increase on the €651.75m paid out in 2023 on IP applicants.
Ms Foley revealed since the start of 2019, the State has spent €2.5 billion in accommodating IP applicants and the spend of €1 billion last year is a multiple of the €129m paid out in 2019.
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Ms Foley told Deputy Tóibín that the average daily cost of accommodating individual IP applicants in 2024 was €84 and this was a 9 per cent increase on the €76.80 daily cost for 2023.
In her written reply, Ms Foley stated that the spend includes all accommodation and ancillary costs such as facilities management and other related expenditure.
She said: “The average cost per night fluctuates due to a wide range of factors including the number of residents and the nature of type of accommodation centres developed and contracted with.”
The most recent IPAS figures show that Nigerians have the highest number in IPAS accommodation at 6,914, followed by Georgia 3,072, Algeria 2,733, Somalia 2,388, Zimbabwe, 2,209, Jordan 2,157, Afghanistan 1,715, Pakistan 1,656, Bangladesh 1,373 and South Africa 1,249.
The figures show that a further 694 are from the Palestinian Territory – Occupied while the IPAS figures show that South Africa, Georgia and Algeria have ‘Safe County’ designation.
On the escalating costs of accommodating IP applicants, Ms Foley stated that “it is important to note that in the period from 2022 onward, numbers of international protection applicants increased sharply, and creating an increase in overall costs directly related to this increase”.
Ms Foley stated that by way of illustration at the end of 2021, International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) accommodated just over 7,000 people, and today, almost 33,000 IP applicants are provided with accommodation.
Ms Foley stated that out of the overall today being accommodated today, about 9,000 are children with their families.
Ms Foley pointed out that “providing reception conditions – accommodation and other basic supports – to people seeking international protection 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”.
She said: “At the moment, over 90 per cent of all IPAS accommodation is provided commercially. A small proportion of our accommodation is provided on state-owned sites, but the development of a sustainable accommodation system over the coming months and years will see less reliance on commercial providers over time.
Separately, Mr Foley told Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy in another written Dáil reply that since the start of 2022, €239 million has been paid out by the State to 22,399 accommodation providers here for accommodating 49,840 Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) in a programme aimed at accommodating Ukrainians.
The €239 million payout is through an Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) which is a monthly payment of €800 available to those who are providing accommodation to a person or people who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive.
Ms Foley stated that , more than 15,500 hosts are accommodating almost 36,000 BOTPs in over 19,000 accommodations.
She stated that a person providing accommodation to beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) on a commercial basis is ineligible to participate in the scheme.
She stated that ARP does not create a landlord and tenant relationship between the accommodation host who has qualified for the financial contribution and the Ukrainians living in the accommodation, and it does not provide an automatic right to tenancy.
The figures provided by Ms Foley show that Dublin has the highest number of people receiving the ARP at 4,518 followed by Cork 1,828, Donegal 1,305, Mayo 1,266, Galway 1,133, Kildare 1,029 and Kerry 1,022.
