Cost of accommodating asylum seekers trebles to more than €650m

Tents house asylum seekers near the Office of International Protection, Dublin. Picture: Niall Carson

The cost to Ireland of accommodating asylum seekers more than trebled to more than €650m between the start of 2022 and the end of 2023.

This has resulted from an “unprecedented” increase in applicants for international protection (IP) in that period, from just over 7,000 at the start of 2022 to over 26,000 at the close of last year.