600 families being moved from IPAS centres under transfer procedure

RTÉ News​

03-07-2025

The Department of Justice has confirmed that 600 families with status to remain in Ireland will be moved from IPAS accommodation centres across the country in the coming months.
NGOs working with those who have received notice to leave their accommodation - 2,042 people in total - have requested that the IPAS exits be stalled.
There is concern for families who are being removed from their communities and into emergency accommodation, in some cases hundreds of kilometres away.
The Department of Justice has said families, who have had their status to remain for more than 12 months, were informed about the planned relocation one year ago and were sent a follow-up letter in March.
It has confirmed that the first moves will take place tomorrow and will continue on a phased basis throughout the summer.
The transfer procedure began under the previous Government when the Department of Children was responsible for the accommodation of international protection applicants.
In the past 18 months, over 7,000 people with status have left IPAS accommodation, as the responsibility of which has shifted to the Department of Justice.
A spokesperson for the department said that everyone who had been notified would be moved, except for "very rare circumstances" such as medical reasons.
RTÉ News spoke to two women, Suzanne and Mary, who received letters to leave IPAS (Direct Provision) this time last year, to track their journeys.
They were both offered transfers to emergency accommodation.
Suzanne felt her youngest boy, who has additional needs, would not cope with such a setting, so she moved the children from where they grew up in the west of Ireland to her friend's house in Co Louth.
This enabled the two women to share the load of minding children between them. While Suzanne's youngest child is happy and has the support he needs in school, it has proven more difficult for her teenagers to settle. They miss the west.
Their arrival in Louth also involved upheaval, which saw Suzanne moving from friend's house to friend's house around Co Dublin seeking work, while the children attended their new school in Louth.
Suzanne managed to get a job in a hospital and a house to rent - the conditions around which she describes as "sketchy" - because she has no lease and the landlord is not accepting HAP at this point.
Her wages are spent on rent and bills, however, she still stands by the decision of not moving to emergency accommodation in an effort to safeguard her youngest child.
Mary took a different path.
She agreed to transfer to emergency accommodation because she had a two-week-old child at the time and needed to act swiftly.
"There was no fridge, no kettle, no nothing. It was very difficult for me as a lactating mum. I had to fight to get them forcefully, because you can't live like that," she said.
A year on, she is on the hunt for a property to rent but has had no luck.
"I go for viewings, I send emails, I send references, I have done everything that is required of me as a person or a mum and I'm equally working as well. I'm trying all I can but there's no houses," she added.
Speaking about the latest tranche of letters that have been delivered to people in IPAS, she says: "This thing of them giving eviction notices and putting them in hotels, it does not make sense to me."
There has been growing disquiet from many quarters regarding the system of exiting people from Direct Provision - that it is compounding the homeless crisis.
Between May 2023 and May 2025, there was an increase of approximately 1,230 in the number of Non‑EEA adults in emergency accommodation, equating to just over 68%.
The Department of Housing has confirmed that the growth in the number of households being granted international protection or other forms of permission to remain in the State, has resulted in local authorities seeing increasing presentations from households who have recently left Direct Provision accommodation.
Considering that the number of people seeking international protection in Ireland has reduced by 40% this year compared to last year, why has the Department of Justice continued to pursue the policy?
The department acknowledged that while numbers arriving had reduced compared to 2024, it stated that there were "still on average 1,000 people applying for international protection every month", who are entitled to be offered reception conditions, including accommodation.
"Of our nearly 33,000 residents, approximately 5,300 people have completed their application process and have received a positive decision. This means they have a legal status that allows them to remain in Ireland, and to work.
"It also means that they are no longer entitled to IPAS accommodation. However, they are now able to access the full range of housing support available to all Irish residents. These housing supports are not available to people who are still going through the international protection application process," it stated.
Some of the families who have been told that they have to leave by tomorrow and have accepted a transfer to emergency accommodation remain unaware where they will end up, according to the Irish Refugee Council.
In a statement, it said: "We are particularly concerned that families who do not accept a transfer will be pushed into already overstretched homeless services and are at high risk of rough sleeping during this transition."
The Irish Refugee Council and Action Aid have consistently raised concerns about transferring people away from the communities where they have built lives including work, school, and support.
In a statement, the IRC said the rise in homeless presentations among people leaving Direct Provision was as a direct result of Government policy, not the fault of those affected.
At a recent Oireachtas committee on housing, Director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive Mary Hayes also expressed concern about the approach.
"We are concerned about institutional discharge from one institution into another. That does not seem to be well-thought through or a planned approach to homelessness. That is particularly so with IPAS which is driving about a quarter of the presentations of single homelessness," she said.
Both the Departments of Justice and Housing have pointed to arrangements that were put in place by the last Government, to help households exit IPAS to alternative accommodation through a number of NGOs that have been contracted specifically to provide support.
However, it is clear from those RTÉ News has spoken to in the past year, that this is not working on the ground. Most people say they are being sent links to properties on Daft.ie, which they are already checking themselves.
Like anyone in the State seeking to rent a house right now, those who have status to remain are up against thousands of other potential renters and they are aware that a foreign surname can create extra hurdles.
The Department of Housing has said that where a household is eligible for social housing support, they are supported to apply for social housing, in which case they are added to the social housing list in the relevant local authority.
Eligible households can also access Homeless HAP which supports households to secure a tenancy in the private rental market.
However, Mary says that even with HAP, the houses in the west of Ireland are out of her league and simply unaffordable.
"I'm working, I'm paying taxes, I'm driving my child over an hour to school, I'm doing what I can...it's exhausting," she says.
Despite the difficulties people face, the Department of Justice is remaining firm on the matter.
"IPAS gives people significant notice, and is progressing this during Summer months in order to allow families time to plan and to avoid moving children during the school year. The first moves will take place from 4 July and they will continue on a phased basis throughout the summer," it said.
The issue of accommodating them will likely then become an issue for homeless services and local authorities nationwide.