More than 200 people denied asylum are still living in direct provision
MORE THAN 200 people in direct provision have been denied asylum here and face being deported.
The Department of Integration said there are 204 people who have had their application for asylum denied but are still living in International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).
IPAS is accommodating nearly 29,000 people who have sought international protection in Ireland, with another 1,780 male asylum seekers left homeless as the State has run out of accommodation.
David Delaney, assistant secretary-general at the Department of Integration, told the Public Accounts Committee yesterday that often there are people in the accommodation system who have got their final decision but have not yet left the centre where they are staying.
‘On any given week, or fortnight or month, you could very well have a few hundred more ending their steps in the process. So there’s a relatively steady throughput at any point in time and we expect to have that type of number in the system,’ he said.
‘Obviously they have free will’
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In 2023, 957 deportation orders were issued but only 76 were enforced. And up to the end of February this year, 174 deportation orders were issued, with just 14 enforced.
Mr Delaney said that when the final decision on their application is negative, the unsuccessful applicant ‘will generally move on pretty quickly’.
He added: ‘Obviously, the individuals still have free will. They can move on to wherever they see fit. Obviously some will move back to their country of origin. Some may choose to move elsewhere.’
Public Accounts Committee chair Brian Stanley said there were hundreds of people in direct provision with deportation orders, while there are hundreds of ‘genuine people who may not have any accommodation, or may be sleeping in one of those tents that we can see from the top of this building’.
Mr Delaney said that getting a final decision ‘does not necessarily mean’ that a person’s deportation order has been issued. However, he said when a deportation order has been issued, that is the ‘final moment to say you must leave’.
Since December, the Government has been unable to offer accommodation to all international protection applicants who have arrived here, with over 1,700 male asylum seekers currently homeless.
Hundreds have been forced to sleep in tents on the streets around the International Protection Office.
Over 6,000 people with refugee status who are currently in the accommodation system are allowed to leave but are unable to because of the housing crisis.
The department said there are 193 residents in direct provision who acquired their refugee status over three years ago but have been unable to leave their accommodation centre.
There are another 636 who were granted leave to remain in Ireland more than two years ago.
There are 2,192 whose status was granted over 12 months ago and 2,893 who have been granted status less than a year ago.
The department spent €672million on private commercial accommodation for international protection applicants in 2023, and €219million in 2024 so far.
State-run IPAS centres cost €13.7million in 2023 and €4.5million to date in 2024.
Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster said the community engagement team in the department need to ‘smarten up their act’ after they contracted the largest hotel in Drogheda, Co. Louth, for use by asylum seekers.
‘The next time in any town where you go to take the main facility, I suggest you do some proper engagement and ask what the effects would be of that on the town itself because it just doesn’t help. It creates a situation that wasn’t there before.’
Labour TD Alan Kelly asked the department officials about the
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decision to contract Racket Hall Hotel in Roscrea, Co Tipperary – the last functioning hotel in the town – to accommodate international protection applicants earlier this year.
He said that there needed to be ‘common sense’ in choosing which centres to contract.
Mr Kelly requested that members of the PAC take a trip to the old Baggot Street hospital in Dublin 4, saying: ‘It’s beyond my comprehension how that’s not being used in some way by this Government.’
The secretary-general of the department, Kevin McCarthy, said the refurbishment of Baggot Street Hospital was ‘ruled out for development on cost grounds’.
In response, Independent TD Verona Murphy asked: ‘Tents are cheaper, is it?’