Hoteliers owed six-figure sums for providing Ukrainian accommodation

Kilkenny guest house owner Micheál Brophy has told of how he is owed a six-figure sum for providing accommodation to 27 Ukrainian refugees. He has called for a direct debit payment system to ensure providers like himself are paid in a timely fashion.

Mr Brophy told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland on Friday that there were many accommodation providers in the same position who were not being paid. Under his current contract Mr Brophy provides lodging, laundry and food to the 27 Ukrainian refugees who are the sole occupants of his guest house. Because his premises is in a rural area he provided two small cars so people could get about the area.

At present he is owed payments for November, December, January and February. “It should be set up on a direct debit basis so that we’re paid in a timely fashion. If somebody was in a position like my position in a normal, everyday job and they weren’t getting paid for three or four months, I don’t understand their position. We have our expenses. We have to pay for oil. We have our expenses with electricity.”

Lorraine Sweeney of the Wilton Hotel in Bray, Co Wicklow, which is home to 140 Ukrainian refugees told Morning Ireland that a “considerable six figure sum” was also due to them since last October, but she acknowledged they were fortunate to have cash flow from “the other side of the house” as part of the hotel remains open to tourists.

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While they were “totally devoted to our Ukrainian guests” there was no way a business could survive waiting five months for payment. Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said he had been receiving calls from struggling hoteliers all over the country, some of whom had not been paid since last September.

Earlier this week, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth confirmed that accommodation providers are owed €41 million in unpaid bills. Senator Conway said it was “totally unacceptable” that after almost a year of the Ukrainian crisis happening that the Department of Children still had not sorted out their payment structure to ensure the people were getting paid in a timely fashion

“I still have to keep my business running, and if I’m not in a position to keep it running – I have no alternative but to discontinue. That’s a real possibility at this stage,” said Mr Brophy.

Ms Sweeney warned: “I think the Minister has enough challenges finding enough accommodation. Now if he doesn’t treat this as very serious and bring people up to date and pay them, he’ll have a major problem on his hands because he won’t have anywhere for people to stay.”