National Ploughing Championships approached to provide tented accommodation for Ukrainian refugees

The organisers of the National Ploughing Championships were approached by the Government to provide tented accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.

The Government has said that it expects that tented accommodation will become the primary source of accommodation for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees from next week, arising out of an accommodation shortage.

As of today, the first of hundreds of refugees will be housed in tents at the site of Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co Laois.

National Ploughing Association managing director Anna May McHugh confirmed the organisation had been approached, in relation to providing tents to the Government to house Ukrainians.

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However she told The Irish Times “sure we don’t own a tent”. A source said the tents, generally rigid walled and canvass roofs are hired just for the duration of the event. The National Ploughing Championships takes place in Ratheniska, Co Laois, from September 19th to 21st, and the land on which it takes place returns to agricultural use after the event.

Meanwhile, the Electric Picnic bell tents, which had been constructed on site in advance of the festival, will be used to house family units as pressure on the system continues with hundreds of new arrivals every week.

The site was of considerable interest to officials because of its post-festival ability to provide fast resources, including tents and personal hygiene facilities.

Minister of State Ossian Smyth told Morning Ireland, on RTÉ Radio 1, that he does not view tents as being a long term solution to the accommodation shortage.

“We have been using tents in a military facility up to now as a last resort. In the last four months we have had 10,000 Ukrainians arrive in the country. The rates at which they are arriving has increased.

“We are now faced with a real short-term difficulty for the next few weeks. And the Government has contracted to take over the tents that were at Electric Picnic over the weekend. Today or tomorrow, up to 750 Ukrainians will be moving in to those tents but that is obviously a very short term facility. Six weeks I would expect.

“The Government has shown an ability an ability to put huge quantities of accommodation online. They are accommodating more than the population of Galway city at this stage. In one year, they have come up with temporary accommodation at that speed and I fully expect they will be capable of housing those Ukrainians at the end of the six weeks.”

Tents were used as an emergency measure last autumn and winter to provide housing for the numbers of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Last December, however, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said that no asylum seekers were in tents at that stage, nationwide and every effort was being made to ensure this solution would not be used again.

Minister O’Gorman told Today with Claire Byrne in mid December said that they had been “upfront” with authorities in Ukraine in terms of how “tight” the accommodation situation is in this country.

Meanwhile, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said there was no straightforward solution to finding accommodation for refugees suggesting the authorities would need to continue to be adaptable.

Responding on Tuesday to the domed tents from the Electric Picnic Festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, being repurposed for temporary refugee accommodation, he said: “I think we’ve got to be extraordinarily honest that there isn’t a straightforward answer to that question.

“What we know is the tented accommodation is only intended to be used in the short term.”

He said there had been an upsurge of people from Ukraine seeking refuge in Ireland since early May.

“We provided student accommodation [to refugees] during the summer period. Obviously that’s now required by the third level [students]. The tourist sector still is perhaps part of its peak period of time. So this is an ever evolving and moving situation.”

Mr Harris argued that Ireland has done a pretty good job overall.

“We do have to be honest with people that there aren’t easy solutions when it comes to providing immediate accommodation to people who arrive here,” he said.