More than 100 properties have been offered to the State following the latest push by Government to purchase large properties for asylum seeker accommodation.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said 131 submissions were made in response to a call for properties for international protection accommodation to “sell or lease”.
The preference was to purchase, she said. “That is the direction we are going.”
Offers were being “worked through and assessed”, meaning it was not possible to say how many of the 131 had been offered for sale rather than lease. The spokeswoman could also not say if they were spread across every county or concentrated in a smaller number.
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Not all would be suitable, the spokeswoman said, adding that they were being examined for building compliance, fire and other regulatory issues.
Last Tuesday, Mr O’Callaghan confirmed plans to purchase Citywest Hotel in Dublin for more than €148 million to make it a permanent processing centre for international protection applicants.
This would contribute to his plan to provide 14,000 State-owned beds for asylum seekers by 2028 rather than relying on private providers and would “deliver significant long-term savings to the State as its moves from licensing to ownership,” a department spokesman said.
The 764-bed hotel and conference centre, which has been leased by the State since 2020, had capacity to accommodate “approximately 2,300 people between the hotel and the convention centre”, the spokesman said.
The latest invitation for submissions, published on the Government’s E-tender website, seeks “expressions of interest from property owners, private developers and building contractors who are interested in selling or leasing existing properties or buildings in turnkey condition [and] existing properties that require upgrading/refurbishment/renovation”.
“All properties acquired through this expression of interest process will be to provide accommodation for international protection (IP) applicants and must be on the terms of vacant possession,” the notice says.
According to tender documents, properties that will not be considered are buildings set aside for social housing; accommodation planned for use by other arms of Government; student accommodation; and nursing homes which are currently operating.
State-owned properties will be directly managed by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).
As of early 2025, IPAS was providing accommodation for more than 33,000 people across 325 accommodation centres.
Mr O’Callaghan said purchasing Citywest was “a hugely significant step” towards reforming the international protection system – part of which was a “stable and sustainable accommodation network”.
This was necessary to bring Ireland’s system into compliance with the EU Asylum and Migration Pact which comes into force next year, he said.
It will require international protection applications to be processed within three to six months, fingerprinting and photographing of adult and child applicants and the establishment of designated accommodation centres.
“State-owned centres are part of the Government’s long-term plan to reduce the reliance on private accommodation providers in communities resulting in better value for money of public funds and a more efficient international protection system,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
News of the Citywest purchase sparked protests by some local residents.
Protesters claimed to have gathered more than 8,000 signatures of people against the move by going door-to-door in Saggart, Rathcoole and Citywest. “Ninety per cent of the doors we called to signed that petition. It shows that 90 per cent of people in the areas around here do not want this,” said Amanda Higgins at a demonstration outside Leinster House on Wednesday.
