The states spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General has found that 151 contracts offering accommodation under the International Protection system in 2020 were not compliant with the government’s own contract guidelines.
The findings were provided in a report presented to Dáil Éireann. The 151 non-compliant contracts had a combined value of €91,068,052.
The C&AG’s Report also noted that with regard to these contracts, the Department of Justice took the view “that the procurement of accommodation services is, where possible, undertaken using a competitive process and that following receipt of responses, they are reviewed to ensure the accommodation proposed is suitable and compliant with the Department’s requirements.”
Notwithstanding this view however, the C&AG stated that he was not satisfied that the procurement of the relevant contracts was fully compliant.
That means the watchdog does not believe that 151 of the contracts granted to provide accommodation to those claiming to seek asylum were fully compliant with the need to have a open competition and/or to provide accomodation to standard.
Responsibility for accommodating applicants for international protection was transferred to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Affairs, in October 2020. However, the system for the processing of international protection applications remains under the remit of the Minister for Justice.
According to the C&AG, now that responsibility for these contracts has transferred to this Department, steps will be taken to ensure improved compliance in 2021.