Fees paid to top 10 asylum-accommodation providers exceeded €300m in 2025 – The Irish Times

The top 10 private providers of accommodation to international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees received €313 million in 2025, according to figures supplied to the Committee of Public Accounts.

The figure, supplied by the Department of Justice, represents an increase of more than €30 million on that paid to the top 10 in 2024, which came to €281 million.

The figures are contained in a response from the department to questions put by the committee at a hearing in March.

In all, €1.6 billion was paid by the State to private providers in 2025 across 287 accommodation centres run by 182 contracting companies.

The highest individual contract in 2025 was worth just over €40 million and was paid to Mosney Unlimited Company, which provides accommodation in the former holiday camp in Co Meath. Cape Wrath Hotel, which provided accommodation in City West in 2025, was paid almost €39 million. Next was the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport Skyline View Ltd (€34 million) and Guestford Ltd (€33 million), which provided accommodation in the Moran Red Cow Hotel, west Dubin.

The figure for the top 10 accommodation providers for Ukrainian refugees fell sharply in 2025 compared to 2024. The overall figure for the top 10 was €103 million, down from €182 million the previous year. This reflects the growing number of Ukrainian refugees leaving State-provided accommodation, or else returning to Ukraine.

The letter, written by former secretary general Oonagh McPhilips (who retired earlier this month), also discloses that it costs almost as much to deport people with no legal right to be in the State on commercial flights as it does on charter flights.

McPhillips said six charter flights deported people from the Republic during 2025: three to Georgia, one to Nigeria, one to Pakistan and one to Romania, which is within the EU.

In all, 182 people were deported and a further 23 EU citizens were removed by charter at a cost of €1.667 million. That worked out at an average of €9,159 for each person deported.

A further 185 people were deported by commercial flights in 2025 at a cost of €1,507,990.05, an average of €8,151 per person. Those deported must be accompanied by gardaí on the plane.

The most expensive single charter was the one that deported people to Pakistan. The overall cost of the flight was €581,790 and a further €19,000 was spent on a medical team and flight manager for the trip.

*Refers to companies who operate a number of centres