Compulsory purchase orders should be used to build asylum centres, report recommends
The Government sought to end direct provision by the end of 2024, but this is being pushed back due to the war in Ukraine and a large influx of international protection applicants. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
Emergency powers including compulsory purchase of land should be used to deliver six new reception and integration centres for asylum seekers, an advisory body has recommended.
A review published in July by the External Advisory Group on Ending Direct Provision is calling for exceptional measures to deliver State-owned centres which would accommodate between 500 and 750 people each, by the end of 2024.
The report, prepared for Minister Roderic O'Gorman's Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, which is responsible for direct provision, cites the speedy manner in which modular homes were provided for Ukrainian refugees, some of which are already in use.
The State could, and should, use emergency powers to prepare suitable State-owned land for rapid-build accommodation. It already used such powers to provide modular homes for Ukrainian refugees.
“If no suitable sites are available the State should procure them, including if necessary through compulsory purchase, prepare them for rapid build, and ensure that contracts for rapid-build accommodation are launched, the report reads.
“The different steps involved should be shortened as far as possible and operated together instead of consecutively. The urgency is now even greater and requires rapid mobilisation to deliver the necessary accommodation by the end of 2024.”
According to the report, the programme board to end direct provision calculated that 4,667 beds would be required to accommodate new international protection applicants for four months.
A previous report from November 2022, published on the same day, recommends that the Government deliver two of these centres before the end of May 2023. However, these were not completed.
The advisory body, led by Dr Catherine Day, recommends that stronger cross-departmental co-operation is needed, saying that some Government departments had not “risen to the challenge” in supporting international protection applicants.
“In the case of international protection, some, but not all, departments have risen to the challenge and found ways of integrating applicants, despite significant challenges in their own policy areas. Inter-departmental co-operation should not be optional; it is an essential component of delivering Government policy,” the report reads.
In particular, the body recommends that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s department takes up a “coordinating” role to deliver promised reforms set out in the white paper to end direct provision.
A new white paper on ending the controversial system is set to come before Cabinet next month, only two years after the initial plan was launched.
The Government initially sought to end direct provision by the end of 2024, but this is being pushed back due to the war in Ukraine and a large influx of international protection applicants.
Figures recently released show that the State is spending more than €42.1m each month on rental, management and the maintenance of accommodation for asylum seekers.
This money is going to private accommodation providers across the State for the use of 180 centres of different types each month, paid out by the Department of Integration.
In 2022, 13,651 international protection applicants arrived in Ireland, up from just 4,781 in 2019.
The advisory group is also critical of the high number of people who have received permission to remain in Ireland that are still living in direct provision. It reports that just 525 people left direct provision centres in the first four months of 2023, citing the shortage of affordable accommodation.
While those with leave to remain have rights to housing supports, they are not included within housing needs assessments at present.
“The housing needs of people with leave to remain in Ireland should be integrated into the Housing Need and Demand Assessment of each local authority without delay,” the report recommends.
On medium-term reforms, the body is calling for resources to be set aside in the budget to establish a new State accommodation agency under the remit of the Department of Housing.
This agency will focus on liaising with local authorities and integrating housing needs of international protection applicants with councils' housing plans. It calls for funding to be provided to establish this agency in October’s budget.
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