The Department of Justice has revealed that payments to private companies operating accommodation for international-protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees totalled €1.6 billion last year, with the ten largest providers earning €313 million. Details sent to the Public Accounts Committee and published on 24 April show Mosney Unlimited Company topping the list at just over €40 million, followed closely by operators of former Citywest and Airport hotels. The figures underscore how Ireland’s reliance on hotel and holiday-park contracts has mushroomed in the absence of purpose-built reception centres—a gap the new International Protection Bill aims to address. Costs have also risen because the State now pays for security, catering and basic healthcare on-site rather than issuing cash allowances. For employers, the spend is more than a budget footnote: under EU rules asylum seekers gain the right to work after six months. The faster those applicants are processed and moved out of state accommodation, the sooner they enter Ireland’s tight labour market.
![State Spent €1.6 Billion on Private Asylum Accommodation in 2025, PAC Told]()
Navigating Ireland’s evolving immigration landscape can be daunting for employers and applicants alike. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/ireland/) offers step-by-step guidance on Irish visa categories, document preparation and application tracking, helping organisations onboard talent faster while individuals avoid administrative setbacks.
Sectors such as food processing and eldercare already recruit heavily from this cohort; rising accommodation costs add pressure on the Government to accelerate work-permit issuances so that residents can contribute tax revenue. The PAC letter highlights deportation expenses as well: six charter flights removed 182 people at an average cost of €9,159 each, similar to the €8,151 average for 185 removals on commercial services. That parity may encourage the department to expand commercial-flight removals—a development global mobility teams should note when advising staff with lapsed permissions. Civil-society groups reacted by calling for greater transparency in contracting and for time-bound targets to phase out hotels, arguing that large payments to private landlords create perverse incentives. The Department counters that emergency capacity was unavoidable after record asylum and refugee inflows but says a new ‘modular village’ near Dublin Airport will pilot a cheaper, state-run model.
Navigating Ireland’s evolving immigration landscape can be daunting for employers and applicants alike. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/ireland/) offers step-by-step guidance on Irish visa categories, document preparation and application tracking, helping organisations onboard talent faster while individuals avoid administrative setbacks.
Sectors such as food processing and eldercare already recruit heavily from this cohort; rising accommodation costs add pressure on the Government to accelerate work-permit issuances so that residents can contribute tax revenue. The PAC letter highlights deportation expenses as well: six charter flights removed 182 people at an average cost of €9,159 each, similar to the €8,151 average for 185 removals on commercial services. That parity may encourage the department to expand commercial-flight removals—a development global mobility teams should note when advising staff with lapsed permissions. Civil-society groups reacted by calling for greater transparency in contracting and for time-bound targets to phase out hotels, arguing that large payments to private landlords create perverse incentives. The Department counters that emergency capacity was unavoidable after record asylum and refugee inflows but says a new ‘modular village’ near Dublin Airport will pilot a cheaper, state-run model.
