Almost 80% rise in money spent on asylum seekers

OVER €640million was spent housing international protection seekers last year, compared with €356million in 2022.

There has been a 79% increase on the money spent by the State on housing International Protection Applications, new figures from the Minister for Integration show.

The State spent €640million on housing over 26,000 asylum seekers across 2023 – an average yearly cost of €24,356 per resident. This represents a 79% increase on the €356million spent housing over 19,000 asylum seekers in 2022. This cost includes all accommodation and related costs, including transport, facilities management and other related expenditure.

Asylum seekers are not asked to contribute to the costs of their accommodation.

In 2018, the yearly cost totalled €77.9million with just 6,106 people in direct provision. There are now over 28,000 International Protection Applicants being accommodated by the State – the average cost of accommodation is €76.80 a night.

Over 3,600 people have arrived in Ireland seeking international protection since the start of 2024, with 1,300 male asylum seekers left without any accommodation.

The Department of Integration has said 2,400 new beds have been brought into use for asylum seekers since the start of the year. ‘Despite this effort, the Department is in the very difficult position of being unable to offer all IP applicants accommodation at present,’ a spokeswoman said.

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman also confirmed the State has spent €2.15billion accommodating Ukrainians seeking protection since the start of the war in 2022.

‘The average cost of accommodation across all commercially contracted settings, whether catered or self-catering, is estimated at €44.73 per person per night. I am further advised that the highest average cost per person per night is €88.29.’

Over 104,000 Ukrainians have been granted temporary protection in Ireland since the start of the war, with 80,000 estimated to still be here.

Amongst the 28,000 asylum seekers in State accommodation there are over 5,900 people with refugee status who are unable to move out of the accommodation due to the housing crisis.

Ireland saw over 13,000 people arrive here seeking asylum last year, however Ministers have been warned that this could reach 20,000 in 2024. There are currently over 20,000 applications being processed by the International Protection Office [IPO] up from 18,300 at the start of 2024.

The IPO is due to make 14,000 decisions this year, compared with 9,000 in 2023.

The average processing time for applications is currently 17 months.

The Justice Minister Helen McEntee introduced an accelerated decision process of less than three months for those making asylum applications from countries which are designated as ‘safe’.