The Government has stopped opening new asylum seeker accommodation centres in certain parts of the country, including north inner-city Dublin, due to “local and political feedback”, according to internal Government documents seen by The Irish Times.
Under the policy, the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS), an agency of the Department of Integration, stopped accepting several types of “properties and locations”, in 2024.
As well as properties in north inner-city Dublin, these include hotels that are the “last hotel in town” and properties in several counties including Kerry, Clare, Mayo and Donegal that had previously been used for housing Ukrainian refugees.
In other cases, hotels formerly used to accommodate Ukrainians became available for IPAS use but a decision was made to allow them to revert to tourism.
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“Many properties” were not used as IPAS centres due to these policies, according to the briefing documents that were prepared by the Department of Integration in advance of Government formation talks in December 2024.
The comments were made to illustrate the extreme difficulty in securing enough accommodation for the record number of asylum seekers who arrived last year.
More than 18,000 asylum seekers came to Ireland in 2024, with another 15,000 expected in 2025, it said.
Less than half of new international protection applicants are men and one in four are children, it stated. IPAS currently houses 33,000 international protection applicants, a 400 per cent increase on 2021. It has been unable to provide accommodation to 3,000 single male applicants.
One of the major issues encountered by departmental officials is “violent protest and criminality”, the documents state.
[ Ukrainian refugees told to leave accommodation due to refurbishment worksOpens in new window ]
“Fairly uniquely in the Civil Service, the work of the division is subject to significant instances of protest, instances of arson and other violence or criminality, and targeting by anti-immigration or far-right activists,” it stated.
It said there were 33 arson attacks recorded against planned, actual or rumoured IPAS accommodation, between August 2023 and August 2024, significantly more than previously publicly reported.
These attacks have resulted in properties being damaged beyond use. They have also had a “knock-on effect” in making providers reluctant to offer properties due to fears of violence or arson.
Officials said there was a “marked drop” in the number of private properties offered for international protection accommodation in 2024.
Resistance to new IPAS centres comes in the form of “legal, local and criminal challenges”, the department said.
This resistance is driven by “diverse factors, ranging from far-right, anti-immigration criminality, to sincerely held concerns about local public service capacity”.
The document also cites a range of court challenges to new accommodation centres, in places such as Thornton Hall, Crooksling, Athlone and elsewhere. These challenges are “bringing our capacity to deliver on Government strategy into question”, officials said.
Another major challenge is the lack of accommodation for people whose asylum claims have been accepted. As of November 2024, 5,360 successful asylum seekers were still in IPAS centres as they were unable to get housing in the private market.
This accounts for 17 per cent of all IPAS residents, a figure that is double and sometimes quadruple the figure in other EU countries.
The briefing also notes Ireland issues a far lower number of deportation orders than other EU countries. Ireland signed 2,400 deportation orders in 2024, when 18,000 people applied for international protection.
To reach EU norms, it would have to sign 12,000 orders a year, officials said. “A shift of this nature would free up significant space in IPAS centres.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the department said that the State has “worked under significant pressure over the last few years to find accommodation” for asylum seekers.
It added that IPAS carries out “an appraisal” when considering offers of accommodation.
“A range of issues are considered by that appraisal which may lead to a refusal. These might include ineligibility for planning exemptions or other building and fire regulations managed by the Local Authority. They might also include concerns about services, transport and other logistical issues,” the statement said.
