Gordon Deegan
The State is spending an average of €1.88m per day in accommodating International Protection (IP) applicants in centres across the country to date this year, new figures show.
According to the Minister for Integration, Roderic O’Gorman, the spend by the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) on accommodation services is €617 million for the year to November 24th.
The spend equates to a daily average spend of €1.88 million and is providing a bonanza for private accommodation providers across the country.
The spend is a 73pc increase on the €356m spent by IPAS on accommodation services for the 12 months of 2022. At the end of June this year, the bill for accommodating IP applicants totalled €301.8m, and it has surged since to €617 million.
The average daily spend of €1.88 million on IP accommodation for 2023 to date compares to an average daily spend of €975,342 for last year.
In a written Dáil reply to Clare TD, Michael McNamara (Ind), Minister O’Gorman stated that the average cost for keeping an IP applicant in IPAS accommodation for one year in 2022 was €18,568.
Minister O’Gorman confirmed that there are over 26,000 IP applicants here now and this compares to 19,202 IP applicants in accommodation at the end of last year.
The 26,000 is in addition to the 74,000 Ukrainians who have sought accommodation from the State.
Underlining the profits to be made by private operators for accommodating IP applicants and Ukrainians, new accounts for the company which operates Breaffy House resort outside Castlebar in Co Mayo show that pre-tax profits last year increased almost five fold to €3.66 million.
This followed revenues at Tirawley Ltd trading at Breaffy House Resort surging by €5.4 million or 66 per cent from €8.15 million to €13.59m million in 2022.
The company’s income from ‘rooms’ increased from €3.03 million to €4.6 million last year as revenues from ‘food’ surged from €1.63 million to €6.34 million.
Separate accounts lodged a Travelodge firm, Pumkinspice Ltd show that it recorded a pre-tax profit of €8.65 million from operating a Dublin hotel exclusively for IP applicants last year.
Pumkinspice Ltd secured a contract in early 2022 from the State to house IP applicants at its newly constructed 393 room hotel on Townsend Street in Dublin 2.
In its first year to trade, the hotel firm recorded revenues of €18.54 million last year from the State contracts.
The company continued with the State contract until April of the year when it opened to trade as a hotel with the general public.
Deptarment of Integration figures show that Holiday Inn Dublin Airport has received €15.59 million for housing IP applicants
from January to the end of June this year.
TIFCO is one of Ireland’s largest hotel groups and the figures show that it has received €14.26 million for the first six months of this year to accommodate IP applicants.
The operator of Moran's Red Cow Hotel, Guestford Ltd on the western outskirts of Dublin have received €15.44 million for accommodating IP applicants for January to the end of June this year.
In a separate Dáil reply to Deputy Marian Harkin (Ind), Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD (FG) stated to November 29th this year, 11,791 applications for International Protection (IP) have been made and this compares to 13,650 applications made last year.
However, the 11,791 for the first 11 months is a multiple of the 2,648 applications made in 2021 and more than double the pre-Covid 19 figure of 4,782.
To date this year, 736 deportation orders for IP applicants have been signed compared to 539 for 2022.
Minister McEntee stated that IP applicants now typically receive a first instance decision in less than three months which is a significant reduction from a norm of 22 to 26 months early last year.
