State has ‘probably reached limit’ of hotels for Ukrainian refugees, O’Gorman says

The State’s system to house Ukrainian refugees is “under pressure”, with the Government having “probably reached the limit” of the amount of hotel and guesthouse accommodation it can provide, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has said.

As of this weekend, some 21,000 refugees had arrived into the country from Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Of those, about 13,000 are being accommodated in State-provided accommodation.

Mr O’Gorman, who has responsibility for integration, said the “vast majority” of those 13,000 people are being accommodated in hotels and guesthouses around the country.

“We have secured over 3,000 rooms now at this stage and that’s the primary means by which we are accommodating people. We’ve also secured the use of maybe larger institutions, former convents and the like, and we’ll be looking to secure more of those going forward,” he told Newstalk’s On the Record.

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“Of course, a number will be accommodated in pledged accommodation as well, and that number is going to grow in the coming weeks.”

Mr O'Gorman said they have not needed to use military-style accommodation at Green Glens Arena at Millstreet, Co Cork, or Gormanston Camp in Co Meath "yet".

“In the last number of days, we’ve had some reliance on the local authority emergency accommodation and the local authorities are working closely with my department to help us in terms of the continuing arrival of refugees,” he said.

“We’ve probably reached the limit in terms of the amount of hotel or B&B accommodation that we can provide, so it’s now looking at other sources, looking at those institutional buildings, filling out the pledges and looking at supports local authorities can provide. The system is under pressure.”

Circumstances

Mr O’Gorman said there will be circumstances when the accommodation provided to these people “won’t be optimum”, but added “right now it’s about providing security, it’s about providing shelter to Ukrainians when they arrive”.

It is expected the people who are housed in the likes of Millstreet or Gormanston will be there for the medium term.

The cabinet is now operating on the assumption that only half of the 21,000 pledges of accommodation made through the Irish Red Cross will be available, due to some pledges being withdrawn and others being deemed unsuitable.

On the possibility of financially compensating those who agree to house refugees, Mr O’Gorman said there had been no formal discussion but it is a consideration.

While the number of refugees expected to arrive into the country next week is lower than what has been seen in recent times, it is anticipated a higher proportion of those arrivals will require State-provided accommodation.

Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien is due to meet representatives from the construction industry on Monday to discuss how it can assist in the efforts to house these refugees.

Mr O’Brien’s department is also due to convene a taskforce to look at some possible longer-term solutions.