Housing Agency ‘crucial’ to accommodating asylum seekers, Minister says

The expertise of the Housing Agency will be "crucial" in developing a new accommodation system for asylum seekers to replace direct provision, the Minster for Children, Equality and Integration has said.

Speaking at the launch of the White Paper on ending direct provision, Roderic O’Gorman said he had worked very closely with the Department of Housing in finalising plans for a new asylum service that is reliant on accommodation run by not-for-profit approved housing bodies (AHBs).

The Government’s Housing Agency would bring “expertise and specific supports” to the acquisition and design process, he said, adding that he was “not looking to pit AHBs against one another” in attempts to secure housing.

Under the new system, asylum seekers will spend a maximum of four months in State-owned reception centres before moving into housing secured through AHBs, which are comprised of charities and voluntary organisations. The White Paper says the system will be up and running fully by December 2024.

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The rollout of a new international protection support service is forecast to cost between €440million and €760 million over the next four years, said the Minister. The service will cost an estimated €175 million annually after that.

He said the priority was to “move away completely “ from using emergency accommodation in 2021 and 2022. However, he admitted some existing contracts with private operators running direct-provision centres would be extended during the transition period and said the Health Information and Quality Authority would begin inspections of these centres in the coming months.

A pilot system of vulnerability assessments began in January and social workers are currently being hired to continue the rollout of this programme, said Mr O’Gorman.

Despite calls that the State offer leave to remain to people who have spent more than two years in direct provision to clear the backlog of applications, the Government has not indicated plans for an amnesty. The Department of Justice and the Department of Children would examine the situation in the third quarter of 2022 following changes currently being made to speed up the process, said Mr O’Gorman.

At that point “we’ll look at what other potential measures are available to us”, he said, adding that the success or failure of the White Paper “does hinge on being able to reduce the numbers in the system”.

Asked whether he was concerned about possible pushback from communities where new reception centres would be built, Mr O’Gorman said there would be a national information campaign on the plans, followed by localised information campaigns.

On access to bank accounts, which has continued to cause problems for many applicants, Mr O’Gorman said Department of Justice officials were “making progress” with the banks but he planned to engage more directly on the topic. He expressed confidence that Department of Transport legislation allowing asylum seekers to apply for driving licences would pass soon.

Disappointed

The Movement of Asylum Seekers (MASI) said it was disappointed the changes would not be implemented through legislation, adding it was “difficult to trust that the State will strictly adhere to the four-month maximum stay in a reception centre”. MASI also called for more detail on how single people would be housed in shared living spaces and said asylum seekers should be allowed to work as soon as they applied for protection.

Irish Refugee Council (IRC) director Nick Henderson said clearer objectives were needed to remove the backlog of applications. An "arm's-length body from Government" was needed to drive the new process, he said.

Fiona Finn, director of Nasc, the migrant and refugee rights centre, welcomed the introduction of a child benefit-type payment for families living in the community and described the recommendations around unaccompanied minors as “very strong”. However, like the IRC, she warned that the new system would not work unless the current backlog was cleared.

Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, commended the White Paper’s “clear focus on children and their needs” and additional funding for Tusla to support families. However, the paper falls short of proposing individual educational assessments for children, she said.

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said the Government’s commitment to integration was particularly important and moving centres away from remote rural locations would be an “important enabler of this”.

Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, said the State needed to show "a consistent political commitment to make the essential reform of our international protection system feels real for those who it is currently failing".

Opposition parties welcomed the White Paper but highlighted the challenge of providing accommodation while delivering housing to those on waiting lists.

Housing

Social Democrats joint leader Catherine Murphy welcomed the paper and acknowledged the challenge it would be to implement its proposal but said: “Housing is where the focus of attention will be for the practical side of things.

“We want to see how that’s going to happen in conjunction with the delivery of new housing stock for people on housing waiting lists and for people who are looking for affordable housing.”

Labour equality and integration spokeswoman Senator Ivana Bacik welcomed the paper as an “important day in the campaign for progressive change within our international protection process”.

But calling for an immediate start on implementation, she said “we need clarity on the measurable goals for this year” including setting target dates for when “asylum seekers will be entitled to open a bank account and to seek a driving licence”.

Labour senator Annie Hoey, who also welcomed the White Paper, said: “I have friends in Mosney who have been there for over a decade and I’m sure that they are hoping that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Government TDs and senators also welcomed the paper. Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill stressed the importance of the provision of driving licences which “would afford people access to greater freedom, in particular residents of centres in isolated areas”.

She also called for an urgent review of school transport to meet the needs of parents with young children. “I recently spoke with one mother who is walking her young children to school on narrow country roads, as she doesn’t have access to suitable transport,” she said.

Fianna Fáil senators Mary Fitzpatrick and Catherine Ardagh also welcomed the Government’s paper. Ms Fitzpatrick said, however, that “it’s really vitally important that the time is used now to clear that backlog” of those already in the system for years.

Green Party senator Pauline O’Reilly described the paper as a particular victory for her party. They would not have gone into Government without the ending of direction provision being in the programme for government, she told the Seanad.

“It was a red-line issue for us,” she said, adding: “We must see an end to direct provision within the lifetime of this Government.”