Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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657. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will set out precisely the number of international protection applicants and the number of people fleeing war-torn Ukraine that are being accommodated in County Sligo, County Leitrim and County Donegal, identifying the properties at which they are being accommodated, in tabular form. [43275/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Government is committed to supporting all those seeking international protection in Ireland, and to continuing to provide shelter and support to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Ireland currently provides accommodation to 32,600 people applying for international protection and has welcomed over 109,000 people from Ukraine since 2022.

International protection

There are over 32,600 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system as a whole, compared with approximately 7,000 people at the end of August 2021. 1 in every 4 people in international protection accommodation is a child with their family.

People are accommodated at over 300 locations, in every county in Ireland.

Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country, and intensive efforts are ongoing to source suitable accommodation, in line with the Government's Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy (CAS).

Despite this, significant shortages of accommodation are being seen, and since last December 2023, over 2,800 people who have applied for international protection since December 2023 have not been offered accommodation.

IPAS provides accommodation as part of Irish and EU law and also under our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution in their home country.

Please see below the number of International Protection applicants residing in counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal as of 13th October 2024:

In relation to the specific locations of IPAS accommodation, this information is not published in the manner requested, due to the need to protect the privacy and security of people applying for international protection.

Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection

My Department does not publicly detail information in the manner requested by the Deputy in the interest of the privacy and security of residents and providers.

However, numbers of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) in counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal, as of 16th October 2024, are listed below in tabular form. Please note that the below table refers to BOTPs in DCEDIY-provided accommodation only. I should also point out to the Deputy that these figures provide an overview at a point in time and are contingent on a number of factors that are subject to change including accommodation availability, providers in contract at any given time, configurations, transfers resulting from contracts ceasing.

Further break downs of the information gathered, including a per county breakdown is available on the below links: gov.ie - IPAS Statistics (www.gov.ie).

gov.ie - Accommodation of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) (www.gov.ie).

Further information with respect to BOTPs is published by the CSO on an anonymised basis as part of its Arrivals from the Ukraine series

www.cso.ie/en/statistics/population/arrivalsfromukraineinireland/.

Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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658. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth regarding his recent statement confirming that 415 international protection applicants are to be accommodated at Benbulben Court, Sligo, where he says there are 524 bed spaces, if he will confirm that the State is paying the property owners for 524 beds and choosing to use just 415, which seems to be the implication of the brief he circulated. [43276/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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415 beds will be provided for people seeking refuge in Ireland who are international protection applicants in Benbulben Court in Sligo. The contract with this centre has been signed for a period of two years. The accommodation will be for families of international protection applicants.

Emergency centres providing international protection accommodation have been opened in all parts of the country. There have been over 230 such accommodation locations used since January 2022 across 26 counties. Due to the pressure on accommodation for people applying for international protection, my Department will be providing accommodation for people applying for international protection at this location.

This property in Sligo town was submitted to the Department via a Request for Tender (RFT) competition in October 2022. It was evaluated and deemed to meet or exceed all of the qualifying criteria.

The Government has stipulated a 12-month period after which buildings have ceased provision of student accommodation during which they will not be contracted for the purpose of providing accommodation to people applying for international protection. This property has been vacant of students for over 12 months, since May 2023.

The Department has agreed a contract for accommodation at this location, and we have commenced the contract with use of spaces for up to 415 people.

Further details of the International Protection Procurement Service’s contractual arrangements are kept routinely confidential, as they are commercially sensitive and IPAS accommodation’s specific occupancy levels are also unpublished to preserve the privacy and security of our residents.

The Department’s International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) works closely with the Local Authority, their Integration Teams, the HSE, local education services and other integration supports when new international protection applicants arrive into an area. Local services have been made aware of this new accommodation centre and are being mobilised to help make arrangements needed for any support services.

IPAS carry out resident clinics at all new and existing accommodation locations. IPAS also work with a number of NGOs who provide support to residents in the form of clinics, and in addition there is a DCEDIY funded confidential NGO run helpline to assist with any queries a resident may have while settling into a new locality, or at any time during their time in IPAS accommodation.