The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has announced that it will continue to use a site in Stradbally, Co Laois, to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, however they will stay in cabins instead of tents.
The initial contract to house Ukrainians on the site expires tomorrow.
The Department has also confirmed that a second site at Glendalough House in Co Wicklow will also begin accommodating Ukrainian refugees next month.
In a statement issued this evening, a spokesperson for the Department said that "the emergency accommodation will entail the use of winter-ready cabins" at both sites.
"It is intended that each site will accommodate up to 950 people, with the contract in place for a period of 32 weeks," the spokesperson said.
"The accommodation will be heated cabins, enclosed within marquee-type structures containing ancillary facilities," they said, adding that it is intended that the accommodation in Stradbally will come into use from 6 November and in Glendalough House from 20 November.
The spokesperson also said that "at Stradbally, the winter-ready accommodation will be located on an area separate from the current tented accommodation, which will be removed once the cabins are ready".
It is not clear if the tents currently in situ will be used until then.
They also said that the local Community Engagement Team in Stradbally had contacted local representatives and local councils to brief them on the use of the sites.
The spokesperson said that the Department is now accommodating over 97,510 people, that is 73,152 fleeing the war in Ukraine and 24,358 seeking International Protection.
"With more than 650 people now arriving each week from Ukraine seeking state-supported accommodation, the Department is activating contingency measures in order that accommodation may be available throughout the winter months," they said.
Earlier, the United Nations Refugee Agency raised concerns about the use of tented accommodation to house refugees and asylum seekers as the winter gets colder, and said that "modular, pod-like units...are a much better solution than the tented accommodation being used at several sites around the country".
Just over 450 asylum seekers continue to be accommodated in three tented facilities, in Dublin, Clare and Westmeath.
