New supports for unaccompanied migrant children being finalised by government

There are 114 asylum seeker children who are separated from their parents and guardians, according to latest figures provided to the Cabinet sub-committee on Migration on Thursday.

Most of these are aged over 17.

A further 108 Ukrainian refugee children are also unaccompanied.

However, there are issues in accommodating children who reach the age of 18 due to a lack of beds for asylum seekers and those who reach the age of 18 and need to move out into the private rental market.

The Government is working on a “new model” of support for unaccompanied minors, it is understood.

Tusla, the child and family agency, has had to make urgent arrangements with unregulated providers to house migrant children as asylum seeker and refugee numbers increased in recent months.

Hiqa also found a number of issues at IPAS centres, including failures to ensure Garda staff were vetted and that safeguarding policies were in place.

Accommodation providers have now submitted compliance plans to improve their services so they are compliant with national standards.

There were over 66,700 Ukrainian refugees in State accommodation at the end of April.

There are over 28,700 asylum seekers housed by the State, including 6,000 who have been granted leave to remain but remain in international protection housing due to a shortage of properties to rent.

Over 1,700 adult single men seeking asylum are currently awaiting an offer of accommodation from the State.

Over 33,000 migrants have sought asylum since 2022.

This is greater than the total number of applications received over the previous eight years, which was nearly 23,400.

Since the start of this year, 6,826 international protection applications have come in which is the highest number on record for such a period.

If the high numbers were to continue, record numbers of asylum seekers would be seeking protection in the State over the rest of the year.