|Published on: 13th March 2025|Categories: News|
- The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has defended an appeal by the state against a High Court judgment relating to the provision of asylum accommodation.
- A new report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has revealed serious issues in asylum accommodation centres.
- A record number of people died whilst in the international protection system in Ireland in 2024.
- The government is considering a reduction in payments to homeowners who host Ukrainian refugees.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has contested an appeal by the state against a court ruling relating to the provision of asylum accommodation. In August 2024, the High Court ruled that the state had breached the right to human dignity of people seeking asylum in Ireland by failing to provide accommodation for new arrivals between December 2023 and May 2024. The state lodged an appeal in November 2024. In February, IHREC Chief Commissioner Liam Herrick criticised the state’s failure to plan adequately for the increase in asylum applications despite having “full notice of” the issue. Speaking in advance of the Court of Appeal hearing on 6-7 March, he also reiterated IHREC’s position that “people applying for international protection have a right to adequate shelter and basic living conditions under national and EU law”. According to IHREC, 3,512 international protection applicants were without state accommodation, up from 259 when the case started in December 2023.
A new report has revealed serious issues in asylum accommodation centres. The report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), covers the first year of its monitoring and inspection of centres managed by the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS). It found that over half of them did not have effective governance systems, more than a third lacked policies to protect residents from harm and 35% of staff were not properly vetted by the police. HIQA said that there was “considerable room for improvement” in governance, risk management, safeguarding and protection, and called for “urgent action”.
A record number of people died in the international protection system in Ireland in 2024. According to data published by IPAS, 14 people died whilst in the system in 2024, the highest annual figure since records began in 2002. According to the Irish Times, in 2024, a doctor from the NGO Safetynet Primary Care warned that a “higher than expected number of patients” living in “extreme isolation” in a remote centre had become “suicidal”. Bulelani Mfaco, a former spokesperson for the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, said: “A lot of people come to Ireland and end up in direct provision because they feared death in their own country. When someone dies close to you it brings back the reality of what they escaped from”.
The government is considering a reduction in payments to homeowners who host Ukrainian refugees. According to the Irish Times, the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP), which was initially set at € 400 and increased to € 800 in December 2022, may be reduced by approximately €200. The current ARP scheme is due to end on 31 March but the government is expected to extend it beyond that date and any possible cuts are only likely to come into effect later in the year.
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