€83m paid to accommodate asylum seekers

Commercial management firms, catering companies, churches and hotel owners received €83 million last year for providing accommodation and ancillary services to asylum seekers, new figures show.

The funding, which increased by €7 million over the previous year, is paid by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) to accommodate almost 8,000 asylum seekers at 84 centres around the State.

Among the biggest providers of accommodation, food and house-keeping services is Mosney Irish Holidays PLC, which provided accommodation for up to 800 asylum seekers at the former holiday centre in Co Meath last year.

Based on the State rates of between €189 and €230 per person per week, the company is estimated to have received at least €7.8 million last year.

Other major providers of services to asylum seekers in the direct provision system are Campbell Catering and Eurest, which manage accommodation in nine centres around the country.

In total the contracts are estimated to be worth in the region of €6 million.

Among the centres operated by Campbell Catering are Atlas House and Johnston Marina hotels in Tralee, Co Kerry, which accommodate 200 asylum seekers, as well as a centre in Knockalisheen, Co Clare, with a capacity of 350.

Another major accommodation provider is the Victory Christian Fellowship Church, which received about €2.5 million in State funding last year to house more than 240 people seeking refugee status.

The Christian church group runs three centres, at Kilmarnock House, Killiney, Co Dublin; Kilmacud House, Stillorgan, Co Dublin; and Milverton House, Montgomery Street, Carlow.

RIA, an agency linked to the Department of Justice, is responsible, among other things, for meeting the accommodation and ancillary needs of asylum seekers.

Since the system of direct provision and dispersal was introduced five years ago, more than 38,000 asylum applicants have been accommodated by the agency.

All accommodation providers and companies managing State-owned accommodation centres are required to ensure their centres comply with standards relating to bedroom capacity, food hygiene, water supply and general safety.

RIA, which engages external assessors to conduct inspections of the centres, says accommodation must meet agreed standards and has terminated contracts in the past where standards have not been acceptable.

However, Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council said there was concern that the quality of accommodation varied substantially from centre to centre.

"The direct provision system is a rich cash cow for a number of commercial operators, and there's nothing wrong with that," Mr O'Mahony said.

"But clearly some were quick to spot a commercial opportunity and the quality provided varies dramatically between various centres."

A spokeswoman for Campbell Catering, one of the biggest providers of accommodation, said while there was obvious commercial sense in operating in the sector, the company was happy that it was providing services to the highest of standards.

Latest official figures show one-fifth of asylum seekers in direct provision have been resident in centres for between 1½ and two years, while a quarter have been in the system for more than two years.

Department officials projected last year that the cost of accommodating asylum seekers in 2005 would fall to €71 million this year. However, these numbers are likely to underestimate the final cost.