The Secretary General of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), Kevin McCarthy, has refused to state publicly what daily rate is being paid to private companies who are providing accommodation to persons who are under Temporary Protection as refugees from the war in Ukraine or who have applied for International Protection.
McCarthy was addressing this morning’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee and was responding to a series of questions from Cork East Fianna Fáil TD, James O’Connor, who referred to the lucrative nature of the contracts secured by such operators.
This has had the consequence that 65% to 70% of hotel capacity in Youghal has been “wiped out,” the TD said.
“This, he added, was clear evidence that hotel owners and others were selling and buying properties because of the attractive nature of the contracts available.
McCarthy said that he would not state what the rates being paid to private companies are because it is “commercially sensitive” information and that making it public might “distort” the accommodation market.
However, as O’Connor and others have pointed out, it is an established fact that it already has, given the massive diversion of tourist and guest accommodation into state paid accommodation for persons claiming asylum.
The information has been supplied to members of the Public Accounts Committee on the understanding that they not share it with members of the public.
In his opening statement, McCarthy had referred to the huge increase in numbers arriving, the difficulties in securing accommodation, especially for “single males,” and that this had led to growing levels of “resistance” from communities which had been welcoming to the large numbers of Ukrainian refugees who had arrived in 2022 and the early part of 2023.