Kildare the most expensive county to house international protection applicants at €92 per night

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan claimed the IPAS system is currently being 'abused' by more than 5,000 people.

The average cost to accommodate an asylum seeker nationwide last year was €83.82 per night, but new figures show a big variance across the country.

Kildare was the most expensive county to accommodate international protection applicants, costing the state an average of €92 per night per — which is €37 more expensive than the cheapest county, nearby Westmeath.

The figures, contained in an update for the Public Accounts Committee from the Department of Justice, shows that Leinster counties dominate in terms of the higher rates being charged.

Carlow, Meath, Dublin, and Louth charge on average €91, €81, €78, and €77 per applicant per night respectively.

By contrast, the five lowest-priced counties in terms of nightly IPAS accommodation are Westmeath, Tipperary, Cavan, Longford, and Kilkenny at €55, €59, €59, €60, and €60 respectively.

The total spend on commercial accommodation for IPAS by the State in 2024 was €978m, the Department’s secretary general Oonagh McPhillips said in the update.

“The average cost per night is a variable figure dependent on numerous factors and may change slightly from week to week and may include other service delivery costs such as transport,” Ms McPhillips said.

She said that in terms of varied cost of IPAS accommodation across the State, “contracts are negotiated on a case-by-case basis rather than by region”.

Ms McPhillips also said the IPAS situation is “not comparable to the rental market”, in that the Department of Justice typically contracts for a building before paying a per-night rate per person to the contractor to deliver the necessary services.

One of the “primary objectives” of the Government in sourcing accommodation for IPAS is that the process “does not interfere with the private rental market”. Ms McPhillips.

Abuse of system

Last month, the minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan claimed that the IPAS system is currently being “abused” by more than 5,000 people.

"Many of these individuals are working but do not contribute to their accommodation costs,” her told the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

“This is both inequitable and intolerable in circumstances where there remains a significant cohort of international protection applicants left unaccommodated," he said.

The Government also wants to see working international protection applicants pay towards their accommodation costs, Mr O’Callaghan told the committee.

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Meanwhile, last week the State’s auditor the Comptroller and Auditor General revealed that due diligence documentation provided for 20 sample properties used by IPAS was “significantly incomplete”.

Insurance certificates were only available for 40% of the properties, and appropriate fire certificates clearly covering the proposed properties were only available for 45%.

None of the fire certificates examined identified the proposed occupancy level for the properties used by IPAS.

IPAS has since taken steps to improve the documentation held for the sample properties reviewed, the C&AG said.

“Complete due diligence documentation checklists have been introduced and are reflected in an overall ‘offers of accommodation’ spreadsheet to ensure that all documentation has been received and recorded,” Ms McPhillips said in addressing the C&AG’s findings.