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Westmeath Facility Among Five IPAS Centres Non Compliant With Standards  

Tuesday, 20 May 2025 11:39

The Centres must submit plans for improvement. 

Five international protection accommodation centres have been found to be not compliant with standards. 

HIQA carried out a number of inspections at centres in Westmeath, Dublin, Galway and Monaghan. 

Among the non-compliances noted were two centres not providing items such as baby formula and sanitary products.
While two other centres, Eglinton in Galway and Slaney Court in Wicklow, were found to be fully compliant. 

HIQA says all centres found non-compliant must submit plans for improvement. 

Inspectors carried out the two day inspection at Athlone Accommodation Centre in March. 

The report says while residents were well supported there, living arrangements were not adequate to meet some needs.

Inspectors found there was limited space for some people to stand or walk around a bed in the bedrooms, and were limited by the design and size of the bathrooms. 

One resident shared a double bed with their child.

While it was evident there was ongoing upgrade works to mobile homes, they were often cramped and did not have suitable space to store their belongings. 

They also found that while staff did their best to improve living conditions, the type of accommodation provided in this centre did not fully support some residents’ rights and impacted on the wellbeing and overall quality of life for families.

The site has 100 mobile homes, which house 156 residents, 89 of whom were children.

Residents praised the staff and management, saying "they’re so kind and Irish people have been very kind and welcoming to us".
 

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