The Government has come in for stinging criticism for withholding the cost of IPAS Centres in Dublin Southwest
Aontú representative for the area, Saoirse Ní Chonaráin, says a parliamentary reply to questions raised by Party Leader Peadar Tóibín TD confirmed that there are 15 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres operating within Dublin South West but the Department of Justice has admitted that it does not collate or publish spending data at a local level, meaning it cannot say how much is being spent in the area
.Ms Chonaráin says “this lack of transparency is deeply concerning given the scale of national expenditure.
“Communities in Dublin South West are being asked to accommodate a significant number of IPAS centres, yet neither residents nor public representatives are being told how much is being spent locally. This is simply not acceptable. At the end of the day, it is those very communities who are footing the ballooning bill for these centres through their taxes yet they are being kept in the dark.
“It would be instructive to know how much super IPAS centres like Citywest, The Redcow or Crooksling cost annually.
National figures provided by the Department show that spending on international protection accommodation has risen sharply in recent years from €190.8 million in 2021 to €1.2 billion in 2025.
Despite this, the Department said it does not track spending by county or local authority area. It will not publish the locations of IPAS centres, citing privacy and security concerns”.
Ní Chonaráin said this creates a serious accountability deficit. “The Government is now spending over €1 billion a year on international protection accommodation but cannot break that figure down to local level. People have a right to know how public money is being spent in their own communities.”
She also raised concerns about the continued reliance on private accommodation providers.
“We are seeing enormous sums of public money being spent, much of it on private contracts, while communities are left in the dark. Transparency must be the starting point if the Government wants to maintain public confidence.”
“I am calling on the government to publish local and regional breakdowns of IPAS spending, Provide greater transparency around the scale and distribution of centres and set out clear plans to reduce costs and reliance on private providers” Ní Chonaraín concluded.
