International Protection Accommodation Services

The International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) is a unit of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.[1] It is responsible for the provision of accommodation and related services to people in the international protection process, being those applying for refugee status or subsidiary protection.[2]

IPAS is responsible for coordinating the provision of services to both asylum seekers and refugees, coordinating the implementation of integration policy for all refugees and persons granted leave to remain in the Republic of Ireland and responding to crisis situations which may result in large numbers of refugees arriving in the country.

The Directorate for Asylum Support Services (DASS) was established in November 1999 as a unit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It introduced a system of direct provision for asylum applicants, providing residential accommodation and ancillary services to asylum seekers while they await the outcome of their applications for asylum. To meet this requirement, various private companies provide these services at several accommodation centres on the country, the largest being at Mosney. The system has been criticised by human rights organisations as illegal, inhuman and degrading.

The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) was established by the Irish government on 2 April 2001 as a merger of the DASS and the Refugee Agency (which was part of the Department of Foreign Affairs).[3][4]

After a government decision of 2 March 2004, RIA was assigned responsibility for supporting the repatriation, on an ongoing basis for the Department of Social Protection, of nationals of the ten new EU member states (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) who might fail the Habitual Residency Condition attaching to Social Assistance Payments.

In December 2019, RIA was divided into the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) and the International Protection Procurement Services (IPPS).[5] In October 2020, IPAS and IPPS were transferred from the Department of Justice to the restructured Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.[6]

References
  1. "International Protection Accommodation Services Unit". Who Does What. Government of Ireland. Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  2. "About IPAS". Government of Ireland. Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  3. "Written Answers – Dáil Éireann (30th Dáil)". Oireachtas. 12 January 2011.
  4. "Direct Provision System – Parliamentary Questions (33rd Dáil)". Oireachtas. 26 May 2022. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  5. Murphy, Keire; Sheridan, Anne. "Annual Report on Migration and Asylum in Ireland 2021: Ireland" (PDF). European Migration Network. p. 154. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  6. Disability, Equality, Human Rights, Integration and Reception (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 436 of 2020). Signed on 13 October 2020. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 16 October 2020.
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