Two deaths at asylum seeker centres in 2025 as number of 'critical incidents' increases to 61
Gordon Deegan
There have been 61 critical incidents in accommodation provided for asylum seekers this year to date, with two ending in the death of residents.
That is according to new figures provided by the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Colm Brophy TD, who reveals that the 61 critical incidents in 2025 to date already top the 57 total for the 12 months of 2024.
The figures provided by Minister Brophy show that the two on-site deaths at International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centres this year compare to seven on site deaths for 2024.
In a written Dáil reply to Paul Lawless TD, Minister Brophy disclosed that 11 of the 57 critical incidents concern ‘violence towards staff/others’ though the total of 11 is down sharply on the 23 under that heading in 2024.
Minister Brophy confirmed that there have been 28 mental health/self harm cases at IPAS centres this year and this is slightly more than the 25 mental health/self harm incidents in 2024.
The largest increase in critical incidents at IPAS centre has come under the heading of ‘other’ which last year increased to 20 from two in 2024.
Minister Brophy stated that “Critical Incidents are events that happen in a centre that are outside the normal range of experience and may lead to significant injury, property damage or even death".
He said: “If a Critical Incident occurs in a Centre, Centre Management will assess the situation and alert emergency services as appropriate.
"Critical Incident Staff Training is provided to staff working in IPAS Accommodation centres. They are given examples of what constitutes a critical incident and what to do to respond.
“Information on the location of incidents is not reported in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of resident information."
In a separate written Dáil reply on IPAS centres, the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD has stated that 22 IPAS centres have been notified of contract termination by the Department to date this year and details of each contractual process are treated as confidential and commercially sensitive.
Minister O’Callaghan has told James O’Connor TD said that in 2025 to date, there have been 372 inspections completed by the International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS), covering 341 separate properties.
He said that the State is currently accommodating almost 33,000 people in nearly 320 IPAS centres around the country, over 9,500 of whom are children.
In a separate Dáil reply on deportation orders, Minister Brophy stated that this year 4,428 deportation orders have been signed up to November 28th, while 1,909 people have had their departure from the State confirmed.
He said 344 people have been the subject of an enforced deportation.
He said that this year, six charter flight operations have removed 205 people from the State. Of these, five operations to non-EU destinations removed 182 people who were subject to deportation orders and one operation removed 23 EU citizens on grounds of criminality.
Minister Brophy told Padraig O’Sullivan TD (FF) that “of the 344 individuals whose deportation orders have been enforced by Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) so far in 2025, 267 were detained prior to deportation and of this group, 28 had criminal convictions.
He said that of the 267 people who were detained for the purposes of deportation this year up to November 28th, 206 were detained in Cloverhill Prison, 24 in Mountjoy Female Prison, 16 in Cork prison, 10 in Limerick prison, seven in Castlerea Prison, three in Midlands prison and one in Dublin Airport Garda Station.
