Cuirimid fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State is most welcome to Seanad Éireann. Before I call on the first Senator, I welcome guests of Deputy Barry Ward from Probus Dún Laoghaire Marine, including Frank O'Conor, the organiser. They are most welcome. I thank Deputy Ward for bringing them to Seanad Éireann. I call Senator Keogan.

The Minister of State is very welcome. I welcome the opportunity to raise this Commencement matter, which relates to something that has emerged in recent days. It is deeply troubling and goes to the heart of transparency, housing policy and public trust. The issue today is simple: how many properties has the Department of justice acquired for international protection since 2020? Where are they? How many are in use? How many are sitting vacant and under refurbishment? The way this matter came to light should concern everyone in this House. Stamullen, County Meath, is a residential village that is already under intense housing pressure. Local residents there have discovered that a private house in a normal housing estate was purchased by the Department of justice for international protection accommodation in 2022. That discovery did not come through any formal notification, public engagement or planning process. It came about only because the residents decided to investigate the property after noting how long it had been vacant and suddenly seeing furniture delivery vans. They grew curious about who their new neighbours would be.

I went into the local authority offices to confirm the facts. The housing officials were unaware of the ownership until they checked the land registry. That alone tells us that something is very wrong. It is deeply troubling on several levels. First, there was no consultation with the local community. There was no advance engagement with residents. There were no transparent communications with the local authority. Decisions of this scale were taken quietly and implemented without any regard for the basic principle that communities deserve to know what is happening in their own estates. Second, this appears to have been done with no consideration of local housing pressure. In Stamullen and the surrounding areas, families are waiting years for homes. Housing lists are long. Young people cannot stay in their own communities. The State is purchasing residential houses in housing estates, and sometimes leaving them vacant for years while local needs go unmet. That is not some kind of hypothetical concern. It is happening now. People are reasonable. Communities understand humanitarian obligations, but people must be consulted. Leaving communities in the dark and then surprising them with developments like this is precisely how trust is destroyed, and backlash is created. Transparency is not optional; it is essential if public policy is to function at all.

What is particularly alarming is that this does not appear to be an isolated case. The Department has now acknowledged that it manages dozens of in-community properties nationwide. There appears to be no publicly accessible register, no clear planning framework and no mechanism for local authorities or elected representatives to understand where these properties are located and how decisions are made. This Commencement matter is not about blindly opposing international protection; it is about accountability, fairness and ensuring decisions are made transparently, lawfully and with regard to local realities. We need to begin a serious discussion about what mechanisms we can create going forward to ensure transparency and fairness. I hope the Minister of State's response can be a token of good faith to that end.

I ask the Minister of State to set out the facts clearly for this House and the public. Without transparency, suspicions grow. Without consultation, trust collapses. Without proper governance, even well-intentioned policy becomes unsustainable.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to talk about the work that I and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, are doing in managing international protection processing and accommodation. At all times, Ireland has endeavoured to provide accommodation and other basic supports to people seeking international protection, as is required under EU and Irish law. The International Protection Accommodation Services, normally known as IPAS, is currently accommodating over 33,000 residents in 305 international protection accommodation centres around the country. Currently, over 80% of accommodation capacity is provided through commercial providers.

As Senators will be aware, the State has had to respond to a very significant increase in demand for accommodation since 2022, both to support high numbers of applicants for international protection while at the same time responding to the arrival of over 100,000 Ukrainians. In contracting accommodation over recent years, despite significant pressure on accommodation supply, the Department has worked to avoid competing significantly with the residential property sector. The great majority of IPAS emergency accommodation centres are located in group settings in larger properties, such as former hotels and guest houses as well as commercial and institutional buildings. A small proportion for more vulnerable applicants who have special reception needs may be accommodated in smaller scale properties.

In line with the programme for Government and the comprehensive accommodation strategy for international protection applicants that was approved in 2024, the State is working to develop more State-owned international protection accommodation. The purchase of the Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre in 2025 was a significant milestone in implementing this strategy. Over recent years, this has also included developing some in-community style accommodation for very specific groups of very vulnerable applicants. It is for a very limited scale group of residents for whom standard or group IPAS accommodation would therefore not be suitable.

To date, 37 in-community properties have been purchased for the accommodation of international protection applicants. A total of 34 of these properties are being deployed to meet the needs of vulnerable cohorts of applicants. Three of these properties are currently under review for alternative use outside of international protection. Since 2024, IPAS has not published details of specific locations, resident profile and occupancy of our individual accommodation centres. This is to preserve the privacy, safety and well-being of residents and staff, which I am sure the Senator would agree with.

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I have to say that it is not really as detailed as I would have liked. In relation to the 37 in-community properties the Department has purchased, nobody knows where they are. Are they currently occupied? Are they unoccupied, like the one in Stamullen at this moment in time that has been left vacant for the past four years? On the three properties that are currently under review for use outside IP accommodation, what is that for? Is that something to do with the Department of justice? Is it for prisoners who are leaving prison? The Minister of State has given me a very vague answer today.

Does the Minister of State think it is right that the first I hear of a house in my community is through the media? Does the Minister of State think that is right? We are the people on the ground every day of the week. Does the Minister of State think we should be reading that in a newspaper? This is something he should be doing. If the Government wants community engagement, it needs to be telling elected representatives what is happening. At this moment in time, the Government has not been doing that. This is why we have problems around the country. I am not really happy with the Minister of State's response.

I thank the Senator. I will refer again to the closing remarks I made in my initial reply to her. Since 2024, IPAS has not published the details of specific locations, the resident profile and the occupancy of individual accommodation centres. It is for a very good reason. It is to preserve the privacy, safety and well-being of residents and staff. That is accepted good practice. I am sure the Senator can see there is a need to protect and preserve that privacy and well-being for residents and staff. That is very important.

The work that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have done has always been focused on wanting to provide what we believe is the best possible service. That means the best service in terms of providing international protection to applicants and ensuring we are working with communities through our engagement groups in making sure we have dialogue and an ongoing process of dealing with communities. In particular, we have been very successful in seeing an overall reduction in the number of international applicants coming into our country and seeing that number fall by over 30%. Therefore, by not having to open new IPAS centres and by consolidating the IPAS centres we currently have, we have saved the State millions of quid in terms of actually doing that work. We have ensured that we are now providing a very good, very focused international protection service, which delivers for the people of Ireland in terms of value for money, delivers for communities and delivers in providing services to people seeking international protection.

There is a vote in the Dáil so the Minister of State might want to scoot over there. I do not know whether the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, who is taking the next Commencement matter has a pair. Will the Senator check whether he can come in because we will have to suspend otherwise? He is coming in.