PAC told it is ‘increasingly difficult’ to source accommodation for Ukrainian refugees

It is becoming “increasingly difficult” to source new accommodation for refugees from Ukraine, the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been told.

Ukrainians fleeing the war have also been placed in emergency accommodation that is of a standard that “we wouldn’t wish to be putting people into”, according to the senior civil servant whose department is leading the response to the crisis. Kevin McCarthy, the secretary general of the Department of Children and Integration, made the remarks as members of the PAC quizzed him on efforts to accommodate 33,000 people who have arrived in Ireland so far.

Some of the refugees made their own arrangements for a place to stay but almost 24,000 have needed assistance from the State. Many of these are in hotels and B&Bs and some have been placed in emergency accommodation like the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet or community centres and other buildings sourced by local authorities.

Longer-term options like large buildings that can refurbished or converted and modular homes are being explored by the Government.

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But the system is under pressure at a time when there has been a large increase in the number or people seeking asylum from other countries and the Government still aims to end the current direct provisions system in favour of an own-door model by 2025.

The PAC was told that so far this year 4,500 non-Ukrainian asylum seekers had arrived in Ireland, 1,000 more than the 3,500 projected for all of 2022. As a result Mr McCarthy said the €230 million allocated for providing international protection accommodation is not sufficient and is “already coming under pressure”.

Mr McCarthy said “enormous efforts” are being made to source accommodation for Ukrainian refugees and his officials are “working the phones” as they seek to identify more capacity while ensuring value for money considerations are met. “The local authorities have worked well with us in identifying and sourcing accommodation that wouldn’t have been on our radar within their local areas. But... it’s becoming increasingly difficult to bring new capacity on stream.”

He said that some 4,000 spaces will be available in student accommodation over the summer but that will be temporary as they will be required again by people in third level education in the autumn.

Mr McCarthy said the hotel and B&B accommodation is “of a good standard” but added: “We have had to rely on more emergency accommodation as we’ve met surges in demand”.

He said local authorities have been providing such accommodation particularly at weekends and it sometimes involves camp beds in community halls.

Mr McCarthy said this is “not sustainable” for anything more than immediate accommodation upon arrival.

He said: “It has been the case where while we endeavor to secure and provide the best available accommodation... we have been securing accommodation that would be of a standard that we wouldn’t wish to be putting people into.”

Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon asked Mr McCarthy about €91 million in spending on international protection accommodation in 2020 that was non-compliant with Government procurement rules.

Mr McCarthy said the Covid-19 pandemic led to the need to find more accommodation to spread residents more thinly to help prevent the spread of the virus. He said expressions of interest was sought for the accommodation and there had been a “competitive element” in the process, albeit it was not compliant with the regulations. He said a tendering process for emergency accommodation is ongoing and he expects some of the contracts entered into in 2020 and 2021 to be “regularised”.