Blazing row over refugee accommodation the ‘most divisive’ since formation of Coalition

This week the number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers being directly accommodated by the State in provision, hotels, halls or tents is likely to surpass 100,000 (75,000 Ukrainians and 25,000 under international protection).

That landmark also coincided with probably the most heated row among Government Ministers since the formation of Government. Green Party Ministers and Fianna Fáil Ministers clashed over a proposed new approach to accommodating refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Jack Horgan-Jones has been keeping tabs on this for us in the past week and his reporting on yesterday’s Cabinet gives fascinating insight into the background and nature of the row.

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has been in firefighting mode ever since the outbreak of the Ukraine war during February and March last year as he has scrambled to find shelter – any shelter – for the huge numbers coming in.

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At a time when Ireland was already in the throes of a housing crisis, such massive numbers arriving presented formidable challenges. It was not aided by a concurrent massive uptick in the number of people seeking international protection. For a number of years the average was 3,500. Last year, more than 13,000 people from around the world sought international protection in Ireland. The number this year could be 15,000.

The matter has been discussed at leader level a few times the past few weeks and O’Gorman has been preparing a paper on the matter.

It came up for discussion at Cabinet yesterday and O’Gorman made a presentation in which he argued that continuing with the present model was unsustainable.

The gist of his proposal was that new arrivals would be accommodated by the State for 90 days before being sent to the private sector.

The proposal was supported by Fine Gael Ministers but was fiercely opposed by Fianna Fáil. As Horgan-Jones reports, there was strong blowback from Tánaiste Micheál Martin and from Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien who argued that all it would do would be to transfer responsibility to the Department of Housing, which would have no choice but to provide housing or homelessness services.

Sources told Horgan-Jones that O’Gorman vented a lot of frustration at the meeting.

There were sub-themes too. There is concern at Government level that some Ukrainian refugees coming into Ireland are secondary transfers, coming from other parts of Europe where they originally fled. Some Ministers believe that the generous social welfare rates in Ireland could also be a draw for people to come here. Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Martin described a “phenomenon” where people are coming to Ireland from other European states.

“There is some evidence that perhaps there’s some secondary transfers now from across Europe as opposed to directly from Ukraine and that’s the issue that’s being examined now in terms of any new arrivals into the future.”

There are some suggestions emerging that the “open door” policy of the Government to refugees fleeing Ukraine may also be reviewed.

Wix encouraged employees to ‘show Westernity’

Jack Power reported this week that an Israeli software company Wix, that employs 500 staff in Dublin, dismissed an Irish employee who posted pro-Palestinian and strongly anti-Israeli views on social media.

In a follow-up report, Power writes that Wix encouraged employees to “show Westernity” in social media posts backing Israel, as “unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans”.

On Monday, the company sacked Courtney Carey (26) after she described Israel as a “terrorist state” and criticised the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

In his follow-up reporting, Power has come across internal messages to employees which were extraordinary. They included this admission, which was – on the face of it – callous.

A post advised employees to avoid focusing on numbers when discussing attacks on Israelis, as “the number of deaths and bombings in Gaza will be significantly higher”.

Employees were told that Israel’s bombing of Gaza was resulting in “difficult pictures” of injured Gazans circulating.

There was strong political reaction to Carey’s sacking yesterday.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said under Irish employment law it was “not okay to dismiss somebody because of their political views”.

The Fine Gael leader said he was not aware of the details of Ms Carey’s case, but said it “may well constitute wrongful dismissal”.

Micheál Martin said the decision by Wix to fire an employee over social media posts highly critical of Israel was “unacceptable”.

“I think employees generally should be allowed their individual viewpoints. We live in a democracy here. We tolerate debate, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues.

“People are entitled to have perspectives once they don’t advocate for violence, in pursuit of those objectives.

“I haven’t seen the (social media post). I’m not familiar with the case. So I just want to make the point. We uphold the rights of people to freedom of expression.”

People Before Profit called on the trade union movement to issue a statement condemning the action taken by the company.

Martin has said the evidence is “incontrovertible” that Gaza is facing a human catastrophe unless sufficient aid flows into the besieged city over the next few days.

In what will be received as a relatively positive development, US foreign secretary Antony Blinken has called for a humanitarian pause in hostilities but has fallen short of saying there should be a ceasefire.

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Pat Leahy reports that the Government yesterday approved two schemes to help affected businesses and householders in east Cork following last week’s extensive flooding.

A thoughtful opinion piece by former Irish diplomat Niall Holohan on Gaza with a grim prognosis.

“For more than 30 years now the two-state solution which emerged from the Oslo Accords has been seen as the answer to this long-running conflict; it could well have been successful if it had been implemented fully and honestly. Regrettably, for all intents and purposes, this concept of two states no longer seems to be feasible,” he writes.

Playbook

Micheál Martin will deliver the keynote address of the Shared Island dialogue on Accommodating National Identities later on Wednesday. Broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan will moderate two panel sessions, with contributions from a range of perspectives and communities from across the island of Ireland.

Dáil Éireann

9.58am: Private Members’ motion from the Independent Group on neutrality

12pm: Leaders’ Questions

1.15pm: Taoiseach’s Questions

2pm: Statements ahead of the European Council meeting of October 26th-27th, pursuant to Standing Order 124

4.52pm: Motion seeking Dáil Éireann approval of the proposal for a EU directive to establish minimum standards on the rights, supports and protections of victims of crime

5.49pm: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023 – Second Stage, Committee and Remaining Stages (Department of Environment, Climate and Communications),

9.46pm: Deferred Divisions: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023 – Second Stage

10.16pm: Dáil adjourns

Seanad Éireann

10.30am: Commencement Matters

11.30am: Order of Business

12.45pm: Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023 – Committee Stage (resumed) and Remaining Stages

3pm: Private Members’ Business: Employment Equality (Amendment) (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Bill 2021 – Report and Final Stages. (Senators Lynn Ruane, Frances Black, Eileen Flynn, Alice Mary Higgins)

6pm: Statements on the political situation in Northern Ireland (Department of Foreign Affairs)

7.30pm: Seanad adjourns

Committees

9.30am: Health. Committee Stage consideration of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will attend

9.30am: Social Protection. Green Paper on Disability Reform

10am: European Affairs. Discussion on State of the European Union and the Commission Work Programme with Barbara Nolan and John Claridge of the European Commission Representation in Ireland

1.30pm: Transport. Discussion on all Aspects of Road Safety with Jack Chambers, Minister of State at the Department of Transport

5.30pm: Budgetary Oversight. Post-budget engagement with Ictu, Ibec and Social Justice Ireland