Applications for international protection already above expectations for full year

The elimination of the direct provision system is one of the key targets for the Department of Children. Picture: Larry Cummins

More people have applied for international protection in Ireland in the first five months of this year than had been expected for the whole of 2022.

Some 4,500 people have applied for protection here since January 1, against a projected estimate of 3,500, meaning that applicants have outstripped predictions by almost 30% in the first five months of the year alone.

More than 1,450 people have applied for asylum in Ireland in the past month, an average of 360 per week.

Accommodation pressures

The unexpected surge in applications is “generating accommodation pressures”, according to the Department of Children, which has responsibility for the international protection accommodation service (IPAS), otherwise known as direct provision.

The figures, which do not include refugees from the war in Ukraine who have arrived in Ireland since February, are contained in a briefing note produced by the department ahead of its appearance at the Public Accounts Committee today.

It states that the direct provision budget for accommodation for 2022 has increased by 6%, or €13m, from last year to just under €231m.

Arrivals from Ukraine who are beneficiaries of the EU’s temporary protection directive... has [sic] significantly increased pressure on available accommodation resources

More than 31,000 Ukrainians had arrived in Ireland by May 22, with 23,894 of them seeking accommodation from IPAS as of May 31, the document states.

Major challenges

Department of Children secretary general Kevin McCarthy is expected to tell the committee that the Ukrainian war has “impacted tremendously” on the work of the department over the past three months.

“The increased scale, pace, and unpredictability of demand for accommodation has posed major challenges, which continue to be managed on a daily basis,” Mr McCarthy will tell the committee. 

Compliance checks

Meanwhile, a compliance check process as part of a tender to procure additional accommodation for IPAS applicants — a key step in the Government’s strategy to end reliance on emergency accommodation for international protection applicants — has recommenced after being put on hiatus due to the Ukrainian crisis, according to the department.

The elimination of the direct provision system is one of the key current targets for the Department of Children.

Last December the department declared that the €91m in direct provision contracts previously handed out by its predecessor, the Department of Justice, had been spent in breach of public procurement laws.