State spend on asylum seekers surged to €1bn last year

Gordon Deegan

The annual State spend in accommodating International Protection (IP) applicants last year topped €1 billion for the first time.

The daily average spend of €2.75 million per day in accommodating IP applicants is revealed in new figures provided by the Minister for Integration Norma Foley.

The figures provided to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín show that the spend of €1.005 billion last year was a 54 per cent increase on the €651.75 million paid out in 2023 on IP applicants.

Ms Foley revealed since the start of 2019, the State has spent €2.5 billion in accommodating IP applicants and the spend of €1 billion last year is a multiple of the €129 million paid out in 2019.

The Fianna Fáil Minister told Mr Tóibín that the average daily cost of accommodating individual IP applicants in 2024 was €84 and this was a nine per cent increase on the €76.80 daily cost for 2023.

In her written reply, Ms Foley said the spend includes all accommodation and ancillary costs such as facilities management and other related expenditure.

She said: “The average cost per night fluctuates due to a wide range of factors including the number of residents and the nature of type of accommodation centres developed and contracted with.”

The most recent IPAS figures show that Nigerians have the highest number in IPAS accommodation at 6,914 followed by Georgia - 3,072, Algeria - 2,733, Somalia - 2,388, Zimbabwe, 2,209, Jordan 2,157, Afghanistan 1,715, Pakistan 1,656, Bangaldesh 1,373 and South Africa 1,249.

The figures show that a further 694 are from Occupied Palestinian Territories while the IPAS figures show South Africa, Georgia and Algeria have 'Safe County' designation.

On the escalating costs of accommodating IP applicants, Ms Foley stated that “it is important to note that in the period from 2022 onward, numbers of international protection applicants increased sharply, and creating an increase in overall costs directly related to this increase”.

Ms Foley said that by way of illustration at the end of 2021, International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) accommodated just over 7,000 people, and today, almost 33,000 IP applicants are provided with accommodation.

The Minister said that out of the overall today being accommodated today, about 9,000 are children with their families.

Ms Foley pointed out that “providing reception conditions – accommodation and other basic supports – to people seeking international protection is part of Irish and EU law and is also part of our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution in their home country”.

She said: “At the moment, over 90 per cent of all IPAS accommodation is provided commercially. A small proportion of our accommodation is provided on state-owned sites, but the development of a sustainable accommodation system over the coming months and years will see less reliance on commercial providers over time.

Separately, Ms Foley told Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy in another written Dáil reply that since the start of 2022, €239 million has been paid out by the State to 22,399 accommodation providers here for accommodating 49,840 Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) in a programme aimed at accommodating Ukrainians.

The €239 million pay-out is through an Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) which is a monthly payment of €800 available to those who are providing accommodation to a person or people who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive.

Ms Foley said currently more than 15,500 hosts are accommodating almost 36,000 BOTPs in over 19,000 accommodations.

She said that a person providing accommodation to beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) on a commercial basis is ineligible to participate in the scheme.

The Minister said that ARP does not create a landlord and tenant relationship between the accommodation host who has qualified for the financial contribution and the Ukrainians living in the accommodation, and it does not provide an automatic right to tenancy.

The figures provided by Ms Foley show Dublin has the highest number of people receiving the ARP at 4,518 followed by Cork - 1,828, Donegal 1,305, Mayo 1,266, Galway 1,133, Kildare 1,029 and Kerry 1,022.