Asylum seekers will have daily expenses allowance means-tested from next month

The International Protection Office on Mount Street Lower, Dublin. Photograph: Barry Cronin/The Irish Times

Asylum seekers receiving a daily expenses allowance will see the payments means-tested under new plans due to be introduced next month.

New advice issued by the Government has detailed the plans amid concern in Government that some asylum seekers in employment are still claiming the allowances.

If an international protection applicant lives in accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS), or is on a waiting list to move into accommodation while awaiting a decision on an application, they are entitled to a daily expenses allowance of €38.80 per week for an adult and €29.80 per week for a child.

An increased rate of €113.80 per week for an adult applies where a person is unaccommodated and is on a waiting list for IPAS accommodation.

New advice on Gov.ie says “an income assessment is being introduced for the daily expenses allowance with effect from June 2024, for persons 18 years or over”.

The advice says that for claims involving couples or families, the daily expenses allowance payment of the person who has an income may be reduced or withdrawn. “This will not impact on any payment in respect of other family members.”

The Government is advising asylum seekers that income includes pay from employment, self-employment and social welfare payments.

The daily expenses allowance payment will cease where a person has income of more than €125 per week for a combined total of 12 weeks or more.

Asylum seekers can currently apply for permission to work five months after they have applied for international protection in Ireland.

There are 1,923 asylum seekers waiting on an offer of accommodation. There are more than 30,000 international protection applicants in IPAS accommodation, according to most recent IPAS report.

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Jennifer Bray

Jennifer Bray is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times

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