Average cost rises to €99 per night to accommodate asylum seekers despite drop in applicants

Tents housing asylum seekers near to the Office of International Protection, in Dublin in 2024. Staffing levels at the International Protection Office have increased by around 330% since 2018. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

The average nightly cost of accommodating international protection applicants increased to €99 per person last year despite a 30% drop in the number of people seeking asylum.

The details are contained in a new internal government report which warns that new arrivals continued to exceed outflows from IPAS accommodation in 2025, “straining a system under pressure”.