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.

This increase occurred at the same time Ireland took in Ukrainian people, mainly women and children, fleeing Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Since then around 107,000 Ukrainian people have sought refuge in Ireland and some 84,000 of them were given State accommodation.

Among a raft of replies to parliamentary questions on international protection, Integration Minister Roderic O'Gorman said a total of 26,900 IP applicants entered Ireland in 2022 and 2023, which was greater than the total of applicants over the preceding eight years.

Roderic O'Gorman said 26,900 IP applicants entered Ireland in 2022 and 2023. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

He said the trend has only accelerated in the first months of 2024, with 7,188 applicants to end of April, an almost 100% jump on the same period in 2023.

Mr O’Gorman told Independent TD Michael McNamara that the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) spent €191m housing 7,244 IPs in 2021; €357m housing 19,202 IPs in 2022; €652m housing 26,279 IPs in 2023; and €318m housing 30,256 IPs to May 17, 2024.

In a separate reply to TD Mattie McGrath, Mr O’Gorman said almost 600 failed asylum applicants were handed deportation orders to date this year, with more than 40 deported so far.

The full details show:

• 872 deportation orders in 2020, with a total of 389 people returning home — 210 in voluntary returns, 97 deportations without Garda escorts and 43 Garda-enforced deportations;
• 29 deportation orders in 2021, with 216 people returning (including deportation orders from previous years) — 132 voluntary, 33 non-escorted deportations, and five escorted;
• 270 deportation orders in 2022, with 249 returns — including 91 voluntary, 92 non-escorted deportations, and 26 escorted deportations;
• 948 deportation orders in 2023, with 317 returns — including 213 voluntary, 28 non-escorted, and 52 escorted;
• 586 deportations to May 17, 2024, with 220 returns — including 166 voluntary, five non-escorted, and 37 escorted.

Mr O’Gorman told Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire there are currently seven State-owned centres, with a capacity to accommodate 1,200 people, and 49 IPAS centres able to take around 8,000 people, with the bulk of people housed at emergency accommodation.

He said that under the Government’s new accommodation strategy, published last March, it proposed  expanding Government reception centres to house 13,000 asylum seekers, contingency accommodation to provide 10,000 spaces, and emergency accommodation a further 10,000.

Helen McEntee said the International Protection Office was confident of 'delivering over 14,000 decisions this year' with an expanded workforce. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the International Protection Office was confident of “delivering over 14,000 decisions this year” with an expanded workforce of 400 civil servants.

She said there were around 2,500 first-instance determinations on asylum applications in 2021, around 4,300 in 2022, and 9,000 in 2023.

She said there was almost 20,700 applications currently pending in the system.

Separately, Ms McEntee said 81,500 employment visa applications were received between January 2023 and the end of April 2024, almost half of them from India.

There were 162,000 student visa applications, with India accounting for 28%, China 15%, and Russia 12%.

There were almost 530,000 visit visa applications, 23% from India, 12% from China, and 9% from Russia.