When it comes to housing economic refugees who are not fleeing war but are seeking protection for other reasons, surely it is not a good practice to concentrate 200 young men in any one location, a Kerry TD has insisted.
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae highlighted the experience in Killarney where, he said, the situation has proven to be disruptive and unruly and is not a successful model when planning ahead.
In a parliamentary question to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderick O’Gorman, Deputy Healy-Rae asked why Killarney has a concentration of people seeking status or protection?
There are over 200 males currently accommodated in Hotel Killarney while their applications for protection are being handled.
“Surely the way to deal with this issue going forward is to deal extremely efficiently and quickly with the processing of their applications,” the Kerry TD said.
Deputy Healy-Rae asked Minister O’Gorman to outline the current average timeline to process an application for one person seeking permission to remain here, not including persons fleeing war.
In a written reply, the minister said his department has responsibility for accommodation matters and the information on the average timeline to process an application is collated by the Department of Justice which has sole responsibility for the process.
Official figures show that from the beginning of 2022 to date, over 12,300 people have arrived in Ireland seeking international protection and as of 30 October, there were 16,838 people availing of International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation.
This compares with 7,250 people in IPAS accommodation at this time in 2021.
This figure is in addition to the arrival of over 57,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection in the last seven months of whom over 45,500 have sought accommodation assistance as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Minister O’Gorman said: “My department is working urgently across Government and with agencies, NGOs and local authorities to bring new accommodation on board so that the State’s humanitarian responsibilities can be met for both International Protection Applicants and those from Ukraine”.
He acknowledged that the pressure on the State to accommodate almost 62,500 people currently has led to significant shortages, particularly for the international protection cohort.
The minister said officials in his department has no option but to consider all offers of accommodation.
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