That the Minister for Justice, Equality & Defence give a breakdown as to
the cost per individual to the State of keeping asylum seekers in the
Direct Provision system, what is paid to the individuals and what is paid
to the service providers to accommodate them.
Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh
Statement on behalf of Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence by
Minister of State for Primary Care, Alex White, T.D:
I am responding on this subject today on behalf of my colleague, the
Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr. Alan Shatter, T.D.
In responding to this very specific motion, I feel it necessary, firstly,
to put on record what Direct Provision means and how we fulfill our
obligations to those persons who apply for international protection from
this State.
The policy of direct provision and dispersal is one of the central features
of the State’s asylum system. The Minister has recounted in responses to
Dáil Questions how the direct provision system was a necessary response to
the increasing number of asylum seekers arriving into the State given the
incapacity of the structures dealing with homelessness to cope with the
crisis.
Direct Provision is, essentially, a cashless system whereby the residents
of accommodation centres are provided with food and other services on a
full board basis. Residents do not have to pay for rent, electricity,
heating, food, maintenance or other costs. Health and education services
from mainstream hospitals/clinics and schools are provided in the same way
as for Irish citizens. Residents receive a weekly direct provision
allowance of €19.10 per adult and €9.60 per child. They are also entitled
to supports under the Community Welfare Scheme.
There are currently 4,836 persons seeking international protection residing
in 35 Direct Provision accommodation centres across 17 counties under
contract to the Reception & Integration Agency (RIA), an operational unit
of the Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service (INIS) of the Department
of Justice and Equality. Three of these 35 centres are State owned: that
is to say, the land and buildings are owned by the State. But for all 35
centres, their management is provided by private companies under contract
to RIA.
RIA does not own, lease or rent premises from commercial contractors.
Rather, it 'contracts-in' a comprehensive range of services and facilities,
which include accommodation, housekeeping etc., for a fixed sum over the
period of the contract. The Minister has explained in numerous responses to
Dáil Questions that RIA negotiates separately with each contractor and it
is not in the interests of the taxpayer that details of rates paid to
individual contractors for current contracts are provided publicly.
Because of reducing numbers and significant cost cutting measures put in
place by RIA, the overall cost of the Direct Provision system in declining.
In 2008, RIA spent €91.5 million. In 2012, the estimate provision is €63.5
million and this represents a decline of 30% over four years. A breakdown
of these expenditure costs are shown on RIA's Annual Reports for the years
2007 to 2011 inclusive, which are published in its website.
Because different rates are paid to different contractors and because
residents receive a range of welfare, medical, legal and educational
benefits not covered in the RIA budget, a note of caution has to be sounded
in providing a statistic showing the cost per individual to the State of
keeping asylum seekers in the Direct Provision system.
Nonetheless, taking the overall RIA expenditure of €69.5 million in 2011
and the number of residents at the mid-point of that year – 5745 - then
this would represent a cost per RIA resident of just over €12,000 per year.
It is worth noting that in 2010, a Value for Money review of the Direct
Provision system found that – and I quote:
“From comparison with a number of options including social welfare and
self-catering, the chosen policy of direct provision was found to be the
best choice for a number of reasons. It is less costly, it is less likely
to act as an incentive to new asylum seekers (asylum shopping) and it
allows the State to manage the challenge of asylum seekers in a way that
reduces pressure on local services.”
A copy of that report is on the Oireachtas and RIA websites.