O'Callaghan confirms 27 critical incidents at IPAS centres so far in 2026

Gordon Deegan

There have been 27 critical incidents at International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres to date this year.

In new figures, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan confirmed that the 27 critical incidents compare to 62 critical incidents for the 12 months of 2025 and 55 for 2024.

The 27 critical incidents to date this year also compare to 50 for 2023, 37 for 2022, and 14 for 2021.

In a written Dáil reply to deputy Ken O’Flynn of Independent Ireland, Minister O’Callaghan stated that “it should be noted when reviewing the statistics that the number of people living in IPAS accommodation has increased very significantly over the last five years".

Minister O’Callaghan said current resident numbers are approximately 33,000 across 305 IPAS centres while resident numbers at the end of 2021 were just over 7,000.

IPAS centres accommodate International Protection (IP) applicants from across the world seeking asylum here.

Minister O'Callaghan said that “centre management in all IPAS centres have an ongoing working relationship with the local Gardaí. If there is ever any concern in relation to acts of violence or other criminal activity in any IPAS setting, An Garda Síochána are contacted”.

In addition, Minister O’Callaghan stated that 2,568 incidents have been recorded at IPAS centres to date this year compared to 5,725 last year.

"Incidents that arise in centres are defined and set out in IPAS policies, from a broad scale of general, minor issues related to complaints about behaviour or noise, to incidents considered critical in that they relate to mental health or self-harm incidents, including the unexpected death of a resident.

“When any incident occurs, IPAS teams engage with centre management to resolve the issue at hand. In this regard, the Department routinely engages with all providers in relation to incident response and policy compliance.”

Minister O’Callaghan stated that 1,909 warning letters have been issued to residents of IPAS centres this year and this compares to 4,127 warning letters issued for 2025 and 3,170 for 2024.

Minister O’Callaghan also revealed that 239 transfers between IPAS centres have occurred this year and this compares to 544 transfers for last year and 521 for 2024.

In a separate written Dáil response to Paul Lawless of Aontú, Minister O’Callaghan said that the department allocation for IPAS accommodation this year is €1.1 billion.

He said that this compares to a spend of €1.27 billion for 2025.

He said: “This is the first time in five years that the budget for international protection accommodation and supports is less than the previous year.”