13 new centres for international protection applicants opened without notice since September

The war in Ukraine and number of people displaced has helped stretch Ireland’s international protection apparatus to its limit. Picture: Markus Schreiber/AP

There were 13 new emergency accommodation centres for international protection applicants opened since last September without any local representatives being briefed, according to new figures. 

The new data, provided by the Department of Children to the Public Accounts Committee, which has responsibility for Ireland’s asylum system, shows that 55 such centres were opened between September and late February as pressure on the asylum system intensified.