Ireland paid over €655m to firms providing accomodation to asylum seekers over 10 years - but one resident in the system says he fails to see where the money is going.
Figures released by the Department of Justice show that five firms received over 42 per cent of the total payments made by the State between 2000 and 2010. Mosney in Co Meath received the most money, with over €89m to operate a centre with a capacity of 600 asylum seekers.
However, a Zimbabwean asylum seeker living in Mosney for three years told Metro Éireann: “We don’t see where this money is going. ”
Emmanuel (not his real name) said: “Infrastructure is already there; the apartments where we live in are not even worth €100 per week … We get the same junk food everyday. ”
According to Emmanuel, electricity may be Mosney’s biggest source of expense.
“When I arrived in Mosney, my first question was why our heating was not limited. We can have it on 24/7 … We can use the washing machines and the dryers every day … The firm doesn’t seem to worry about how we use resources. ”
While Emmanuel, his wife and their three children received just under €3,500 per year in weekly allowances, the Mosney centre was paid an average of €75,000 annually to accommodate the family of five.
“Providing accommodation in this way has been a lucrative business for some businesses and individuals, ” independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan told Metro Éireann. “I can’t help wondering what this money could have done if spent more wisely in providing more focused services in addressing needs of refugees, asylum seekers, youth services, integration. ”
According to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, there is no cheaper alternative to the direct provision system.
“If we were operating a system which facilitated asylum seekers in living independent lives in individual housing with social welfare support and payments, the cost to the exchequer would be double what is currently paid under the direct provision system, ” he said.
In a written reply to O’Sullivan, Minister Shatter outlined that the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) “had closed 25 centres and was accommodating 2,161 fewer persons” a 30 per cent decline over the four-year period between 2008 and 2012.
He added that in that same period, the spending to fund the RIA system “declined from €91.5m to €62.3m”, a drop of 32 per cent.
The direct provision system was created in 2000 by the Department of Justice as it faced increasing numbers of asylum applications, and was intended to provide accommodation to asylum claimants for six months.
Today, 35 centres nationwide accommodate 4,836 people, 60 per cent of which have been in the system for three years or more, Minister Shatter said.
The number of asylum applications has declined by over 87 per cent from 7,900 in 2003 to 956 in 2012.
In other figures released by Justice, Canadian firm East Coast Catering received about €78m to operate two centres in Finglas and Dundalk, which can accommodate a total of 650 people, while Bridgestock, operating accommodation centres for asylum seekers in Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Westmeath, received payments of €50.3m.
Millstreet Equestrian Services was paid €42.6 million to operate centres in Cork, Tipperay and Waterford, while Shaun Hennelly received €21.3 million for its asylum centre in Galway.
