Asylum applications surge by 75% in first three months of year 

Simon Harris said he received a briefing from Integration Minister Roderic O'Gorman which said that every day 15 people from Ukraine, on average, are seeking state accommodation, but 45 people from Ukraine are leaving. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Applications for international protection surged in the first three months of the year, with more than 5,100 people seeking assistance – 75% more than the 2,900 who applied over the same period in 2023.

By contrast, just 3,500 people made asylum applications on average between 2017 and 2019, the Public Accounts Committee will hear on Thursday.

Should the pace of applications continue at the same rate, more than six times that number of applications will be received this year.

Secretary general of the Department of Children Kevin McCarthy will tell the committee that procuring enough bedspace for the incoming arrivals “remains extremely challenging”, with 492 people currently accommodated in “tented solutions” in three locations.

Those locations are Knockalisheen, Columb Barracks, and the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.

Mr McCarthy will also tell the committee that it is now the Government’s long-term strategy to “move away” from total reliance on private providers for the provision of asylum-seeker accommodation, with 14,000 State-owned beds to be delivered by 2028.

Those spaces will be supplemented by “high standard commercial providers” he will say.

The Government paid more than €2bn to 30 private companies for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees last year.

Mr McCarthy will point out that the welfare benefits offered to Ukrainian refugees in Ireland have now been “revised”. Anyone seeking temporary protection in Ireland as of March 14 is now entitled to a maximum of 90 days’ stay at the State’s designated accommodation centres, an approach which will “more closely align” Ireland’s approach with that of its fellow EU member states.

Speaking in Brussels, Taoiseach Simon Harris said there is now a net of 175 Ukrainians leaving state accommodation every week and he is hopeful these spaces can be used to meet additional demand.

Mr Harris said he received a briefing from Integration Minister Roderic O'Gorman, which said that every day 15 people from Ukraine, on average, are seeking state accommodation, but 45 people from Ukraine are leaving.

"So, by my maths that works out at roughly 175 fewer Ukrainian people in state accommodation each week. Now, I fully accept that that's the Ukrainian side of the challenge. And there is of course, a very significant increase that we've seen in international protection numbers, but I do think it provides an opportunity - two opportunities in fact, Mr Harris said.

"One for the Department of Integration to begin to take stock of the overall numbers of contracts and obligations it has in relation to housing in general. And secondly, I think it does merit reflection - because we did take policy interventions recently in relation to Ukraine, reducing for example, welfare benefits for people coming into our country and we have obviously seen a very significant reduction."

The Taoiseach also said: "We have published and agreed the government's accommodation framework recently for international protection applicants and I think that's welcome, because it acknowledges that the current process of continuing to be almost wholly reliant on the private market is unsustainable.

"We took a decision yesterday to extend the lease and the use of Citywest for a further year I think that is good.

"But I do think we now need to see proposals come forward very quickly in relation to other turnkey-type opportunities that may exist related to international protection."