Modular home handover for over 400 Ukrainians delayed until next month

The estimated handover date of modular homes for more than 400 people from Ukraine has slipped until next month as the project aimed at easing the pressure on refugee accommodation continues to be affected by delays.

It had been estimated that some 106 homes — 42 at Rathdowney, Co Laois, and another 64 at Clonminch, Co Offaly — would be ready by this week.

However, the Office of Public Works (OPW), which is overseeing the project to deliver 700 homes for 2,800 refugees, said that the handover is now not forecast to take place until “early November”.

The Government has been scrambling to find homes for refugees with almost 97,000 people entering the State since Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Some 73,000 Ukrainians are being accommodated by the State between short- and long-term arrangements.

So far 204 modular homes, housing 812 people, have been completed across sites in counties Cork, Cavan, Mayo, Sligo and Tipperary.

The rapid-build housing project was first mooted in April 2022.

It was initially hoped that the first homes would be delivered last November but it was June 2023 before refugees began moving into the first estate to be completed in Cork.

Records released by the OPW under the Freedom of Information Act show how the programme suffered delays at several locations during the summer.

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The handover of estates in Tipperary and Cavan, forecasted to take place in mid-July, instead happened in late August.

In relation to the site at Rathdowney, Co Laois, July 28th was initially set as the “tentative forecast handover” date.

There were delays due to the design, installation and commissioning requirements for a water pumping station and a new estimated handover date of October 13th was identified.

It was initially thought the estate at Clonminch, Co Offaly, could possibly be handed over on August 11th.

However, there were “significant delays” due to the need to redesign the site layout plan “due to local authority distributor road requirements.”

[ Modular homes to be built to house refugees, with sites across four counties selected ]

OPW documents from August estimated the handover date as today, October 16th.

Neither the Laois nor Offaly sites are ready, however.

An OPW statement said the estimated timelines in the documents “are subject to any technical issues arising during construction” and the estimated handover date for both sites is “early November”.

There had been plans to put 68 homes across two sites in Baltinglass and Dunlavin, Co Wicklow, but these have been dropped after Wicklow County Council voted against the plan.

There are plans for 136 modular homes at a site at Backweston on the border of Dublin and Kildare where the estimated handover has slipped from March to April next year.

The OPW said that further sites for modular homes have been identified in Cork and Galway and are “at an early stage of development”.