Birchwood House
IPAS international-protection accommodation centre on the outskirts of Waterford city, at Ballytruckle Road. It is one of four IPAS centres in Co. Waterford and a long-running former direct-provision centre accommodating families and individuals. HIQA inspections (published Jul 2024 and Jun 2025) recorded no non-compliances against the national standards and noted good practice on integration support and access to education, health and social supports; the Jun 2025 report found that 42% of residents had been granted refugee, subsidiary-protection or leave-to-remain status but remained in the centre due to a lack of alternative accommodation. Published current capacity is not available, so the resident figure is left unset.
Capacity
—
people (reported)
Per night
€84
per person (benchmark)
Annual
—
estimated
Background
The site is at Ballytruckle Road, Waterford City, Co. Waterford. Irish international protection accommodation is provided through IPAS (the International Protection Accommodation Service), under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. For how the system works and what it costs, open the cost panel on the interactive map with Ireland selected.
Incidents & reporting
Only events reported by named outlets and explicitly tied to this site are listed. Charges are allegations, not convictions — the presumption of innocence applies.
- May 2025Peaceful protest — no charges
Protest over attempted transfer of resident to Donegal
According to the Waterford News & Star, community members, the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) and the city mayor held a peaceful protest at Birchwood House on 9 May 2025 over the attempted transfer of a resident, a Nigerian woman who had been granted status in 2024, to a centre in Co. Donegal around 400km away. Following the protest, centre management deferred the planned removal. No arrests or charges were reported.
Waterford News & Star · source
Sources
HIQA · Jun 2025. View source
Coordinates geocoded from the published address/town via OpenStreetMap; status reflects the cited reporting and may have changed since.