Almost 200 people are living in direct provision for seven years

NEARLY 200 people have been living in the controversial direct provision system for seven years waiting to have their asylum applications resolved.

Figures from Integration Minister David Stanton also show 575 refugees have been waiting for more than five years to have their situation regularised.

In a further indication of the challenge posed by the plans to end the system under the Programme for Government, more than 916 people who have exited the asylum process are still being housed in the Statefunded

7,387 people in the system as of June

facilities.

The system in which asylum applicants are housed in centres, hotels and B&Bs around the country – but which it is claimed are often substandard and unsuitable for long-term stays – became the focus of recent Black Lives Matter protests in Ireland.

The stark figures were revealed by Mr Stanton in response to queries by Sinn Féin TD Johnny Mythen on the breakdown of persons in direct provision. Mr Stanton said that: ‘As of June 7, 2020, a total of 7,387 persons are recorded as being resident in accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department.’

There were 6,355 in the system in January 2019.

The minister revealed that at that date there were people from 103 different nationalities living in IPAS accommodation. Mr Stanton also said the figures include ‘916 people who are no longer in the process, having already been granted an international protection status [refugee status or subsidiary protection] or a permission to remain in the State’.

Mr Stanton said the government was ‘assisting these residents to transition to permanent mainstream accommodation’.

The minister also stressed that ‘people with status or permission to remain in the State have the same entitlement to housing supports and State services as everyone else’.

One senior minister conceded that direct provision ‘is a failed system but how you repair it is not easily defined’.

The documentation which does not provide a breakdown for nationalities with less than 10 people, due to the increased risk of their identification, reveals that Zimbabwe, with 1,064 refugees, has the highest number of applicants.

They are closely followed by Nigeria with 1,016, Georgia 664, South Africa 632, Albania 576 and Pakistan 552.

There are 57 refugees from the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

The documentation also reveals that 57% of residents are male with 43% female.

In terms of age profile, the highest percentage of 28% (2,098) are between the ages of 30 and 40.

The controversial International Protection Accommodation Service system houses 1,499 children under the age of 10 (20%) with a further 824 (11%) residents being aged between 10 and 20. The second highest percentage relates to those aged between 20 and 30 with 1,616 residents accounting for 22% of refugees.

The figures reveal that 291 applicants, or 4%, have now been in direct provision for more than six years.

Just under a thousand (888) or 12% have been in direct provision for longer than four years.

And 1,821 applicants have been in the temporary system for longer than two years.

In an indication of increasing pressure on the system the vast majority (2,554 or 35%) people are in the system for less than a year while a further 1,833 (25%) have been there between one and two years.