Independent TD Carol Nolan has described the Government’s decision to further postpone the introduction of a contribution scheme for employed and self-employed international protection applicants until the first half of 2027 as an “absolute insult” to the more than 150,000 Irish households who contribute toward their own social housing accommodation costs.
Deputy Nolan was commenting after receiving a parliamentary reply from Colm Brophy, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, which revealed that implementation of the long-promised contribution model is now scheduled for the first half of 2027, despite confirming that there have been no formal objections to the measure by any migration or asylum-sector advocacy group.
The latest timeline represents a further delay from previous Government indications that the scheme would be operational by the end of 2026, Deputy Nolan said.
The Offaly TD was the first to expose the lack of contributions from employed and self-employed IPAS residents following parliamentary questions in May 2024.
Deputy Nolan noted that the contribution mechanism is already provided for under Statutory Instrument No. 230/2018, which allows residents in international protection accommodation earning above specified thresholds to contribute towards the cost of their accommodation and associated services:
“If there have been no formal objections from advocacy groups, and if the legal basis for the scheme has existed since 2018, then why are taxpayers still waiting almost a decade for these regulations to be implemented. No one has been willing to answer that question,” said Deputy Nolan.
“This issue is not about creating a new policy. The regulations have been in place since 2018. The problem is that successive governments have failed to implement them. Instead of answers, I am now being told that the process will involve further procurement exercises, further analysis and yet another postponement.”
Deputy Nolan said the latest delay “shatters the credibility of the Government’s belated claim that it is serious about the levelling the playing field for those in state supported accommodation.”
“I have consistently argued that those who are working and earning an income while benefiting from State-provided accommodation should make a reasonable contribution toward the costs involved, just as Irish citizens in receipt of housing supports are expected to do.”
“The Government’s latest response confirms that implementation has slipped yet again, despite there being no formal opposition to the measure and despite repeated assurances that the matter was a priority.”
“I will continue to pursue this issue until taxpayers are given a full explanation as to why a measure provided for in law since 2018 remains unimplemented and why the Government has now pushed its latest deadline into 2027,” concluded Deputy Nolan.
Last December, Minister of State Colm Brophy said that the contribution model would be implemented and that the government wanted a “system based on fairness, which means that people who are working and bring provided with accommodation through the IPAS system should make a contribution to the cost of that provision.”
“We are also cognisant that once people have moved through IPAS and have been granted permission to remain in this country, they should move out of IPAS centres and move into their own accommodation,” he said.