Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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11. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of the State-owned reception and integration centres due to accommodate up to 13,000 international protection applicants; when the centres will be operational, the steps he is taking to ensure that all persons seeking international protection have their basic needs met and are offered accommodation on arrival and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39110/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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My question is very specific. I am asking for an update on the status of the State-owned reception and integration centres due to accommodate people coming to our country. I ask this question a quarter of a century after direct provision was introduced as a temporary measure. A quarter of a century later, we have had a White Paper and the Day report but we still have no State-owned reception centres. Could the Minister give me an update?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Over the past six months, my Department has been focused on progressing the new accommodation strategy I announced in March 2024 with the prioritisation of particular elements of its multistrand approach.

Extensive engagement has taken place to identify and negotiate the use of State-owned sites, initially for emergency and tented accommodation and then for longer term solutions.

To date, five sites have been licensed with the Department, including Crooksling, River Lodge in Wicklow, Heatherside, Thornton Hall and Lissywoolen in Athlone. Tented accommodation has been stood up on the Crooksling and River lodge site. Thornton Hall will see the same in the coming weeks and Athlone subsequently. We have also gotten the use of former Ukrainian accommodation in Ballyogan, south Dublin.

The delivery of prefabricated and modular units on State land has been prioritised by my Department as a vehicle that can quickly deliver accommodation to national standards. The first project under this programme is the delivery of 40 modular units to replace tents on the site of Columb Barracks in Mullingar. It is currently envisaged that the potential handover of this site will begin in mid-October and will be completed by December. Building on this work, a procurement process to form a framework for the delivery of modular prefabricated units on State land has been launched. We have also set out an expression of interest for people who want to sell the State large sites that can also be used for the accommodation of international protection applicants.

It is a question of meeting an emergency response through tented accommodation on State-owned lands and following that up with a conversion of tented accommodation to prefabricated units, as a much more sustainable solution. We will also use additional capital funding my Department has received from the Department of public expenditure under the review of the NDP to purchase sites that have been offered on the private market. There are larger institutional buildings that can be refurbished and used for international protection accommodation as well.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for that clarification. I realise and openly acknowledge that the Minister inherited this issue. However, we have known for a very long time that direct provision does not work. It isolates people, creates a stigma and is inhuman. The High Court recently ruled in August of this year that the State had utterly failed in its duty to provide for basic needs, including accommodation for international protection applicants and so on. There is any number of reports and judgements telling us that this system is just wrong.

I welcome the progress but could the Minister put the figures into context for me? What are the numbers in direct provision as we speak? How many are in the system that have not gotten their full status and have nowhere to go? How many are children? When will the reception centres be rolled out? Is there a point in time, given that we have had the White Paper, the Day paper, the McMahon report and so on? I do not need to go into the history. I welcome what he is telling me but could the Minister put this progress into context?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There is one other piece of context worth noting and that is the war in Ukraine. Since February 2022, in addition to the work we had been doing to deal with the needs of international protection applicants, my Department has had to deal with the needs of up to 100,000 Ukrainians and a very significant increase in the number of international applications. This is just for context which I know the Deputy will understand.

At present, there are 32,000 people in the international protection system, of which I believe 5,300 have status. We have had real success in supporting people with status to move out of international protection accommodation in recent years. Approximately 700 people made that move in 2022 and a total of 2,100 made the move in 2023. To date, more than 4,000 people with status have moved out of the system this year. We have done this through targeted supports, such as working with the Peter McVerry Trust and other housing NGOs to make sure people with status and the same right to housing supports as you and I, are able to avail of them and are able to move and live independently within the community.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Can the Minister provide context on what State-owned facilities we will have, when we will have them and what are the numbers we are talking about? Unfortunately, the Minister referred to the Peter McVerry Trust, which leaves serious questions to be answered and there are ongoing investigations into it. We are also at this stage now because the successive Governments has failed to deal with the problem. I recognise the influx of people from Ukraine and the strain that has put on the Department but what has happened is the narrative has changed. To put it simply, the narrative became some people coming into the country were good and others were not so good. We continue to have a horrible, discriminatory policy.

This was captured again by the Taoiseach's comments that the impact of people leaving direct provision and asylum seekers are creating problems for homelessness. This is absolutely misleading, disingenuous and wrong. There were four reasons given and that was fourth. The three other reasons were notices to quit, family separations and other problems. Direct provision was the least impactful. For the Taoiseach of the country to perpetuate that narrative is unacceptable. I hope the Minister will disassociate himself from that and will go back to give me specifics in his final minute. When will direct provision be ended and provided for in non-profit State accommodation?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will let Deputy O'Rourke in with a quick supplementary question. The Minister might take both questions together.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Regarding Thornton Hall, the Minister stated the timeline was a number of weeks. Is it still mid-October? I am conscious that the end of June and the end of September were initial dates that have passed. I am concerned the updates we are getting from the Department are not detailed, whether that is in terms of the transport plan, social protection, health, well-being, noise assessments or wastewater treatment. What is the current state of play and is the target still the middle of this month? Is it still in the region of forty people and what is the long term plan? It is not sustainable or suitable to have eight-man tents there for an extended period. What is the Department looking at with regard to a transition period to put this on a more stable footing for everyone involved?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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To respond to Deputy Connolly, the process is to provide a core of 13,000 State-owned beds between now and the end of 2028. That is what is set out in the comprehensive accommodation policy and that will be done through building on State land and purchasing sites. That will bring us to that capacity.

I have set out the work we are doing on State land. Part of that State land is the Thornton Hall site. The timeline for the first 40 tents to be on site is mid October. Deadlines have been delayed but the Deputy will know well the range of challenges from a small group, who are not local and I think we share that view, but who have done significant damage through intimidation on this particular site. It will initially be tented accommodation but will move to the prefabricated units I referred to in reply to Deputy Connolly's question. We hope to have approximately 400 international protection applicants on site by year end. I recognise there is a public transport issue and that is something we are working on to provide a clear answer.