The cost of providing accommodation to international protection applicants has risen to €640,000,000 for 2023 according to figures from Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman.
The cost of housing international protection applicants for the year 2022 was €356.5 million representing a spend of almost 1 billion euro for 2022 and 2023 combined for accommodation costs alone.
The figures were released after a parliamentary question made by Sinn Féin TD Pauline Tully.
Minister O’Gorman said that, “The total spend for International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation at year end 2023, was €640,064,470, with 26,279 residents accommodated at 31 December 2023. The cost includes all accommodation and related costs, including transport, facilities management and other related expenditure.”
The average cost of housing an asylum seeker currently stands at €76.80 per night.
O’Gorman said that the Government is “committed to supporting all those seeking refuge in Ireland.” and that the state “has a legal obligation to assess the claims of those who seek International Protection” and to provide them with accommodation during the period of assessment of their claim.
As Gript’s Dr. Matt Treacy reported in January, €484,395,208 was paid out in just the third quarter of 2023, between July and September for asylum seeker accommodation.
€168,482,023 was paid out to providers of accommodation to those claiming to be refugees under International Protection.
A further €315,913,186 went to providers of accommodation and other services for Ukrainians who come under the category of Temporary Protection.
Treacy wrote that while the Department of Integration spent a total of €186 million on accommodation and related costs for asylum seekers and refugees in 2021, that cost shot up to €830 million the following year, 2022.