The State last year paid more than €70.8 million to the company which runs Dublin’s Citywest Hotel to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees, according to new Government figures.
Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, a key property in the State’s international protection accommodation system, received €18.1 million to accommodate international protection applicants (IPAs) and Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) during the final three months of 2024. This brings to €70.86 million the total amount the company received for asylum seeker and refugee accommodation services last year, making it the highest recipient of these State payments in 2024.
Cape Wrath runs the 764-bed Citywest Hotel and convention centre in Saggart, Co Dublin. In 2023, the company received €53.7 million in State payments through Department of Integration purchase orders. The State is reportedly in discussions to buy the Citywest Hotel.
The latest Department of Integration quarterly purchase orders figures, covering all of 2024, reveal large hotel groups and companies were paid €1.9 billion in Government contracts last year to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
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Some €2.1 billion was spent on asylum seeker and refugee accommodation in 2023. However, the total 2023 spending figure published on the department’s website comes to €1.79 billion as it does not include payments below €20,000 and reimbursements to local authorities providing accommodation.
This indicates the total spending for 2024 may, in fact, be higher than €1.9 billion.
There are 33,045 IPAs, including 9,329 children, living in 322 State-provided accommodation centres across the country, according to Government data. Another 3,512 asylum-seeking men are awaiting an offer of State accommodation.
An average of 33 asylum seekers are arriving into Ireland each day, nearly half the number who arrived daily six months ago when an average of 64 people arrived per day.
Purchase order figures show Igo Emergency Management Services, which is owned by the Igo Café Ltd company with an address in Dún Laoghaire, received €45.9 million for accommodation services, the second-highest payment last year.
[ State to buy Citywest Hotel to confront migrant crisisOpens in new window ]
Mosney Holidays plc, which provides accommodation for between 500-600 international protection applicants and refugees supported by the Irish Refugee Protection Programme at a former holiday resort in Co Meath, received €38.8 million, the third-highest payment.
Travelodge, the hotel brand run by Tifco Hotel Group in Ireland, was paid €36 million, while Pumpkinspice Limited, which also runs Travelodge hotels, received an additional €5.95 million.
Guestford Limited, which trades as the Red Cow Moran Hotel, was paid €35 million and Holiday Inn Dublin Airport was paid €32.74 million.
A firm called Total Experience Limited, which provided accommodation services only for Ukrainians, was paid €30.7 million and Brimwood Limited received €24 million. Payments to Brimwood Limited, which is owned by former Monaghan GAA football manager Séamus McEnaney and his daughters Sarah and Laura, have continued to rise since 2020 when the company was paid €15.7 million
More than 112,100 Ukrainians have sought temporary protection in Ireland since the war began, however, the latest CSO data indicates nearly 30 per cent of these have left the country.
Some 36,000 of Ukrainian BOTPs, or 41 per cent of all Ukrainian refugees, are living in privately pledged homes and properties, up from 27 per cent this time last year.
This housing is supported through the accommodation recognition payment – a tax-free payment of €800 for those providing accommodation to Ukrainians under the EU Temporary Protection Directive. While the Government is expected to extend the scheme beyond its expiration date on March 31st, a €200 reduction in the monthly payment is being considered.
