These regulations amend the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018. They appoint the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) as the designated authority for monitoring accommodation centres. It inserts new provisions for inspections of accommodation centres in Regulations 27A to 27F. The authority shall monitor compliance with the National Standards for accommodation, advise the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as to service providers’ compliance levels and provide reports of inspections of centres to the Minister.
Inspections of accommodation centres are provided for under Regulation 27D. It permits an authorised person to enter and inspect an accommodation centre at any time. They are empowered to interview, in private and subject to consent, a person either providing or receiving material benefits at the accommodation centre. There are provisions for the inspection, collection and retention of documents, and authorised persons can take photographs, recordings, digital images and measurements of the accommodation centre.
There are, nonetheless, limits to inspections insofar as an authorised person shall not enter a dwelling other than with the consent of the occupier, or, pursuant to a warrant. Where an authorised person is prevented from entering the accommodation centre or any part of it, an application for a warrant can be made to the District Court. If an authorised person has reasonable cause to expect any serious obstruction in the performance of their functions and they possess a warrant, they may be accompanied by a member of the Garda Síochána. There are also offences for refusal or obstruction of entry to an accommodation centre, or, in the cases of a dwelling, refusal or obstruct where a warrant has been obtained. The same offences apply where information is provided that is false or misleading or both. The Regulations also contain provisions for inspection reports, statutory notification obligations, and data sharing mechanisms.
The regulations also introduce an additional ground for the withdrawal of reception conditions under regulation 6 of the 2018 Regulations: that the recipient has abandoned the place of accommodation at which the material reception conditions are being provided to him or her. In making the decision to withdraw material reception conditions or the daily expenses allowance, the Minister can also now have regard to information provided via inspections carried out under Regulation 27.
