New direct provision hubs on rise despite goal
MORE than 200 new direct provision accommodation hubs opened across the country last year, despite the Government’s promise to abolish the system, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The Green Party has long campaigned against this system of using private operators to house asylum seekers, and ending it was a key commitment the party secured in the Programme for Government.
However, the number of private accommodation providers has jumped by almost 600% since 2021.
A spokesperson for Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s department admitted the plans to abolish direct provision were based on figures of 3,500 people seeking international protection in Ireland every year.
However, last year, more than 27,000 asylum seekers arrived in the country, not including the 100,000-plus Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.
The Government has blamed the war and wider global unrest for failing to end the system.
In response to queries from the MoS, the Department of Integration said its officials are working to bring more bed spaces into use.
‘Since January 2022 we have brought over 200 properties into use to accommodate those who arrive in Ireland seeking international protection (IP),’ a spokesperson said.
This figure is on top of the 79 hubs which opened in 2022. Between 2018 and 2021, just 27 new centres were created.
It brings the total number of centres operating in Ireland to 326, almost seven times the 47 providers listed in 2021.
In 2021, Mr O’Gorman produced a Government white paper saying 24 centres would close by the end of that year.
The rest were due to follow on a phased basis, with the system ending this year, thereby fulfilling one of the Green Party’s key election promises.