A second emergency transit hub for refugees and asylum seekers will be set up within months, the Public Accounts Committee has been told.
The PAC met on Thursday morning to discuss the provision of emergency accommodation to asylum seekers and those fleeing the war in Ukraine, and heard that all of the accommodation capacity within the system is currently being used.
Some 203 asylum seekers are awaiting access to accommodation after being told upon arrival that the State’s resources are at capacity.
The committee also separately heard that a large number of hotels have yet to indicate whether they will renew their contracts in the spring, and that modular homes will not come on stream until April.
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The Department of Children also defended its communication strategies with local representatives and communities, but acknowledged there are challenges.
Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon was told by the secretary general of the Department of Integration Kevin McCarthy that negotiations are ongoing to open a second transit hub to ease the pressure on the Citywest facility.
“We are in negotiations at the moment in respect of a potential second transit hub. But I think it is important to emphasise the second transit hub doesn’t necessarily solve our problem. In the absence of a sufficient pipeline of onward accommodation for international protection, we would quite quickly run into the same problem again, to be frank about it,” Mr McCarthy said.
“A second transit hub would allow us to take some of the pressure off the Citywest transit hub, which has clearly been operating under significant pressure for a considerable period of time.”
He said the aim is to open the second centre within “the next number of months.”
The State currently has a large number of contracts with hotels to accommodate both asylum seekers and those from Ukraine. Mr McCarthy said that the State is losing contracts for those coming from places outside of Ukraine.
“We have been in contact with a number of hoteliers whose contracts are expiring or are due to expire to offer them the new contract. But there’s a considerable number of hotels that are reserving their position or haven’t confirmed their position as of yet. So there is a clear risk to us of losing contracts, but we were not able to put a finger on that as at this point in time.” Many contracts are due to expire towards the end of March.
In relation to hotels being owed monies by the State, Mr McCarthy said the Department has now put additional resources into the payments operation.
“We are confident that the pace of processing invoices has picked up but there is a resource challenge for us in keeping pace with the scale of demand on that front. There’s no question about that. The fact that you know, we have over 700 providers now, the scale of the operation has grown hugely.”
The State is currently accommodating over 77,000 international protection applicants and beneficiaries of temporary protection made up of 19,740 international protection applicants and over 57,500 from Ukraine.
This time last year there was a total of 7,500 people in international protection accommodation.
Mr McCarthy said at present all of the accommodation capacity within the international protection accommodation service system is currently being used.
“Intensive efforts are being undertaken daily by staff in the department to source emergency accommodation. However, procuring enough beds to keep pace with incoming arrivals remains extremely challenging. This is particularly so in the case of accommodation for single males,” he said.
The Department also said it is “aware of the need to address information deficits and the circumstances and we are committed to working with elected representatives, local authorities and local communities in this regard to ensure that local dialogue is fact based, and to counter misinformation that is used in some instances to generate fear and resistance.”
The accommodation response for those fleeing the war in Ukraine has so far involved contracting and accommodation across hotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses and hostels, self catering accommodation, repurposed and refurbished buildings, the use of sport centres and arenas, properties offered by religious and voluntary bodies, student accommodation, military facilities, temporary tented facilities and emergency rest centres, as well as pledged accommodation in people’s homes are second properties.
The State has also outlined a plan to roll-out 700 modular units, although the meeting of the PAC heard that this will only begin to kick in from April onwards, and that sites still need to be found.
