A private company was paid €7.7m in 2020 for the operation of three direct provision centres under a contract that was subsequently deemed to contravene procurement law.
Aramark, a services provider which has previously held contracts for catering and facilities and property management at different centres, was paid €7.7m for the operation of three State-owned centres. The centres are at Kinsale Road in Cork City, Knockalisheen in Co Clare, and the Lissywollen site at Athlone in Co Westmeath.
The company has held the contract for operating Knockalisheen, which can accommodate 250 people, since 2016.
The Aramark deal is one of 152 private contracts for Ireland’s direct provision and emergency accommodation system that were deemed to contravene procurement law by the Department of Children last year. The deals had been awarded by the Department of Justice without a full e-tenders process.
The Aramark contract is one of several granted for the operation of direct provision centres valued at more than €1m.
Some €4.3m was paid to James White, proprietor of the King Thomond Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare, for its use as a direct provision centre between March 2020 and March of this year. That centre had been newly opened in 2018 following an increase in the number of international protection applicants, particularly from war-torn Syria.
Tattonward, a company operating St Patrick’s accommodation centre outside Monaghan town, received €3.9m in 2020 for its services.
A further €2.4m was paid to Coziq Enterprises, the firm behind the Dublin Central Inn in Dublin’s north city centre, for its use as an accommodation centre for 12 months from April 2020.
Next Week and Co, the operators of three establishments providing emergency accommodation and the Abbeyfield Hotel direct provision centre in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, received €6.1m across numerous date ranges in 2020 and 2021.
Last November, Department of Children secretary-general Fergal Lynch told the PAC that, despite the view of the Department of Justice that the contracts were competitive, he felt compelled to list them as contravening procurement law. The Department of Children assumed overall responsibility for the international protection system from the Department of Justice in October 2020.
In a letter to the PAC earlier this month, Mr Lynch said his department’s focus was currently the implementation of a white paper regarding the ending of direct provision and the creation of a new international protection service by the year 2024.
He said €28.1m has been allocated to his department for the implementation of the new accommodation model in 2022.
He said “significant progress” has been made to date to that end, and that a new income support policy, to enable applicants to live independently after their first four months in a reception and integration centre, was in development.
