Nearly 3,000 IP applicants awaiting State accommodation offer, Justice Minister says

Gordon Deegan

The Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD, has confirmed that there are currently 2,987 International Protection (IP) applicants awaiting an offer of accommodation here.

In a written Dáil reply, Minister O’Callaghan said that in the four months to the end of April this year alone, 1,404 single male IP applicants have not been offered accommodation on arrival here.

He said that the 1,404 total was made up of 402 in April, 301 in March, 359 in February, and 342 in January.

In his reply to Catherine Connolly TD, Minister O’Callaghan stated: “Ireland is currently accommodating almost 33,000 people seeking international protection in over 320 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres around the country.

He said that to “due to severe shortages of accommodation over recent years, the State was unable to offer accommodation to all people seeking international protection since 2024, and there are currently 2,987 people awaiting an offer of accommodation”.

“Our teams manage a limited supply of accommodation, prioritising people with families or who have specific health needs or other vulnerabilities. This means that single male applicants are most affected by lack of accommodation.

“IPAS has arrangements in place with a range of NGO partners to provide drop-in day services for unaccommodated people. This means people can access facilities including hot showers, meals and laundry services.

“IPAS also makes offers of accommodation to any applicant who is rough sleeping, identified through outreach that is organised 7 days a week.”

Minister O’Callaghan said that people who are not offered accommodation are "given a weekly allowance of €113.80 per week, an increase of €75 more than the standard weekly allowance for asylum-seekers”.

He said that “while the demand for IPAS accommodation remains very high, the rate of increase in new applications for international protection has reduced in recent months”.

“This means that IPAS has been able to review the cases of people who are awaiting an offer of accommodation, and to make offers of accommodation to some of those who have been waiting the longest.

“As part of the review process, we are also identifying people who no longer require accommodation. They will be removed from the list of people waiting for an offer, speeding up the process for people on the list who still need accommodation."

O'Callaghan said that "depending on availability of spaces and numbers of new applicants, we hope to continue to make offers of accommodation to more people over the coming weeks and months”.