The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was paid €466,000 in 2022 for providing cultural mediation and interpretation services with Ireland’s International Protection Office (IPO).
The IOM grant agreement began in November 2022 and covers the years 2022 – 2024 with the 2022 figure of €466k representing a first instalment payment of 60% of the total grant amount worth €777,157.
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has confirmed that the balance will be paid in 2024 once the provision of financial and progress reports has been provided.
According to the minister, the IOM provides the International Protection Office with a number of cultural mediators, who can assist with personal interviews (as well as work at the application stage).
The minister did not state if this represented a clear conflict of interest as the IOM would have extensive insight into how to formulate an application with the highest rate of success. The UN body itself clearly outlines how its activities cut across areas that include “the promotion of international migration law, policy debate and guidance, protection of migrants’ rights, migration health and the gender dimension of migration.”
It has also emerged that the total overall costs of providing interpretation services at the IPO has risen by 900% from 2021 to 2023 with the total costs coming in at over €1.8million during this time period. The IOM contract appears to be included within the €1.8 million expenditure.
The information was supplied in a parliamentary response to Labour TD Alan Kelly.
It was confirmed as part of the ministers reply that he International Protection Office now has over 400 staff, an increase of 95% over 2022 with an additional €34m allocated in Budget 2024 to the International Protection Office (IPO), the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) and related areas to continue to scale up processing.
Finally, the minister confirmed that the Total Estimate of IPO Expenditure 2021 – 2023 (Pay and Non-Pay) in 2023 was €23million, an almost 200% increase on 2021 costs.