High cost of IP housing 'not sustainable'
The State spent more than €401m on accommodation for International Protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees in the first three months of the year.
That is according to new figures released by the former Department of Integration detailing its spending for the first quarter of 2025.
In a statement, Minister Colm Brophy said the State had engaged in a series of actions to reduce these costs.
He said this includes: "The purchase of State-owned facilities which will reduce costs and save the State 100s of millions in a relatively short period of time.
"The renegotiation downwards of existing contracts with IPAS and Ukrainian accommodation providers.
"The introduction of legislation this autumn will drastically shorten the length of time people stay in the system. This will reduce the overall costs of accommodation in the years ahead."
The €401m figure is down on last year's quarterly spends on such accommodation, which ranged from €424m to €490m.
Paying for private sector accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers made up 97% of the department's purchase order spends of €20,000 or more detailed in the Department report.
While hundreds of providers are in receipt of Government payments, 91 were paid more than €1m in the first quarter of the year, and together the top five brought in €52.5m.
Commenting on the figures, Nick Henderson, the CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, said it had always been concerned about money going straight to private providers.
He said the Government's purchase of Citywest could be a step in the right direction and was likely to be better value for money for the taxpayer.
The Citywest campus has been central to the Government's International Protection and Ukrainian refugee accommodation provision over the last number of years.
However, Mr Henderson said this did not necessarily mean it would be a better-run facility. He said the IRC also had concerns that the border procedure, under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, could be based in the future at Citywest.
The IRC would also like to see an expansion of the remit of HIQA, which only has inspection powers for longer-term accommodation, expanded to include emergency accommodation.
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