The Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín TD, has described as ‘unsustainable’, the amount spent on accommodating refugees and asylum seekers in recent years.
It comes as data released to him following a Parliamentary Question shows that since 2014, some €1.8 Billion has been spent on accommodating asylum seekers, while since 2022, €2.4 Billion has been spent on accomodation for Ukranian refugees.
Deputy Tóibín said the figures were “eye-watering” and showed “our current system is unsustainable”.
“The government are burning through money at a higher rate. The cost of accommodating IPAS applicants has ballooned 8 fold in just 5 years to well over €1-2 billion last year. Savage money is being paid to private providers for accommodation in hotels and hostels, with catastrophic effects for our tourism sector. Meanwhile the homeless figures are continuing to sky-rocket, and a backlog of asylum seekers is building up in tents on the streets of Dublin”.
“These figures are a warning for the future too. The government is seeking to sign us up to the EU Migration Pact where the decisions on the numbers of Immigrants or the funds to be contributed to the EU will no longer be in our hands. Outsourcing sovereignty on this will be a damaging and costly exercise for Irish citizens,” he said.
Deputy Tóibín continued: “Its incredibly frustrating that over a year ago the government purchased 37 properties for the purposes of accommodating refugees or asylum seekers, and yet they’ve recently confirmed to me that these are still vacant. Publicly-owned vacant properties – its a sin! It would make far more sense to bring these properties into use rather than to continue to pump enormous amounts of tax-payer money into the hands of private hotel-owners. The Rapid Build homes promised 2 years ago have not been completed yet”.
“We need a stricter system where asylum seekers are assessed faster, and where those who are granted status are accommodated in a safe and humane environment, and those who do not qualify are returned home. We know that there are asylum seekers coming to Ireland from safe countries, and these are occupying beds in the system, while in some cases asylum seekers who have genuinely fled persecution are being left in tents on the street. A stricter and quicker system is fairer for everyone concerned”, concluded Tóibín.
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For Written Answer on : 18/04/2024
Question Number(s): 274 Question Reference(s): 17160/24
Department: Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Asked by: Peadar Tóibín T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth the amount that been spent on IPAS accommodation for each of the past ten years; the amount that has been spent on the provision of direct provision for each of the past ten years; the amount that has been spent on the provision of accommodation for Ukrainian citizens for each of the past three years; and the average cost of accommodation per night per person for each of these three accommodation sections.
REPLY
At present nearly 29,000 people are accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system as a whole, of whom nearly 7,000 are children. This compares approximately 8,700 people at the end of February 2022. Together with Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection displaced by the war in Ukraine, this means that Ireland is now accommodating over 100,000 people in state-supported accommodation
The costs outlined below include all accommodation and related costs, including transport, facilities management and other related expenditure. The average cost of accommodating an IP applicant in IPAS accommodation in 2023 was €76.80 per night.
Please see, in tabular format, the total spend of IPAS accommodation, for the last 10 years respectively.
| Year | Expenditure |
| 2014 | €53,217,000 |
| 2015 | €57,025,000 |
| 2016 | €64,137,000 |
| 2017 | €67,359,000 |
| 2018 | €77,993,000 |
| 2019 | €129.408,000 |
| 2020 | €183,215,000 |
| 2021 | €190,856,000 |
| 2022 | €356,554,000 |
| 2023 | €651,756,000 |
Accommodation for people fleeing Ukraine
The amount that has been spent on the provision of accommodation for Ukrainian citizens for each of the past three years:
The below table shows the totals spent on the provision of accommodation for Ukraine between 2022 and 2024 (16.04.24) and the total amount spent which is €2,367,199,580.62.
| Year | Expenditure |
| 2022 | €515,781,870.02 |
| 2023 | €1,489,656,569.38 |
| 2024 as of 16/04/2024 | €361,761,141.22 |
| Total Expenditure to Date: | €2,367,199,580.62 |
The average cost of accommodation per night per person for each of these three accommodation sections:
The average cost of accommodation for BOTPs varies over time due to a variety of factors.
At end 2022, the average cost per person per night was estimated at approximately €60.
At end 2023, the cost was estimated at in the region of €48 per person per night. The reduction in cost reflected the Department’s focus on obtaining greater value for money, and by moving more providers to providing self-catering accommodation rather than full board.
As at April 16th 2024, the average cost per person per night was estimated at approximately €45.