International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I will start by saying that, contrary to what Deputy Cullinane said about there being no transparency in the area of international protection accommodation services, there is in fact a very high degree of transparency. My Department publishes figures detailing the numbers of residents and centres, with a breakdown of numbers of emergency accommodation centres, on a weekly basis. There is full transparency from my Department in regard to providers who receive payments, with details of all payments over €20,000 and the recipients published quarterly online at gov.ie . That is why Members of the House have such detailed information on the amount of money being made by companies that are providing accommodation to the State.
There is also transparency in respect of inspection reports. Inspection reports from all IPAS accommodation centres are published either on the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, website or on gov.ie . The only time there is a restriction on publication is when that is based either on residents' security - I am sure people here will appreciate residents' safety or privacy - or on commercially sensitive information, the publication of which would damage the State's ability to achieve good value for money. It is obviously a competitive market and the amount of money the State is paying on a per person, per night basis is information that should not be given out because it will provide a commercial advantage to other persons seeking to secure contracts.
In regard to the issue raised by colleagues, I agree that we want to get out of private accommodation but when we have over 30,000 people who need accommodation, the State does not have the accommodation to provide that to them. Because of that, the State obviously has to contract with private contractors-----

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25