New figures show county-by-county breakdown of increased asylum accommodation

The number of International Protection seekers accommodated in some parts of the country has increased by as much as 882% in the last year, new figures have shown.

Overall, there has been a 48% increase in the number of International Protection applicants being accommodated by the State. In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman stated that “in the first 20 weeks of 2024, nearly 8,000 people have arrived in Ireland seeking accommodation from the State”.

This, he said, was an average of 398 people a week. “This is more than five times the average from 2017-2019. The highest weekly applications in 2024 was over 610 applicants,” he added.

Read more: Nearly 100 asylum seekers in tents moved from Grand Canal

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As part of the response to Deputy Lahart, a county-by-county breakdown was provided that showed the number of asylum seekers being accommodated in May 2023 and May 2024. There are currently approximately 30,463 International Protection applicants being accommodated across the country.

Last year there were 20,648 people being accommodated. This represents a 48% increase in the number of people being accommodated in the space of 12 months.

The county-by-county breakdown shows that the increase in the number of International Protection Applicants can vary drastically. In Carlow, the number of International Protection applicants in accommodation increased from 45 in May 2023 to 442 in May 2024. This was an increase of 882% .This was, however, the most dramatic rise.

There was a 137% increase in Galway, where the numbers being accommodated rose from 675 to 1,599. In Wexford, the number of asylum seekers increased by 152% from 233 to 589. There was also a 109% increase in Leitrim where numbers increased from 100 in May 2023 to 209 in 2004.

In Dublin, there was a 42% increase in the number of asylum seekers being accommodated by the State. Some 10,896 people were being accommodated in 2024, compared to 7,667 in 2023.

There was, however, a decrease in numbers in some counties.

In Kilare, the number of people fell from 675 to 669, while in Limerick, there was a 3% fall as numbers dipped from 414 to 402.

As of May 19, there were over 30,000 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system. This included 7,494 children.

At the end of February 2022, there were just 8,700 people in IPAS accommodation.

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