Funding in the current year of €2 billion has been provided to meet all of the costs associated with looking after people who have arrived here from Ukraine, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said.
He said he did not have a figure for the overall cost of those from other nationalities seeking international protection, which was a matter for the Department of Justice and the Department of Integration.
Accommodation was a large part of this cost, along with social welfare, Minister McGrath said.
There are mechanisms in place for providing this cost overall, he added.
He said those costs would be taken into account as part of the budget process.
Speaking about the nature of accommodation provided, Mr McGrath said the Government's preference was still to use vacant building stock.
Some progress had been made in recent days in relation to that, he said.
He said he would leave the issue of "so-called floatels" to Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman to come up with a view and a proposal on that.
Consideration of that issue was at an early stage, he said.
The Government was working cohesively on the issue of housing international protection applicants, Mr McGrath said.
He said: "Minister O'Gorman had an "incredibly difficult job ... but he has the full support of all of his colleagues in Government."
He added that Minister O'Gorman had been working especially closely with Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien who he said was facing significant challenges when it came to housing.
"When you look at the number of people we are accommodating, its about 85,000 people between Ukrainians and people in the International Protection system and many multiples of where it was just over a year ago," he said.
"It is challenging, it is difficult, but we are working together and we will continue to support Minister O'Gorman and Minister O'Brien in the work that they are doing on behalf of all of us."
How long that funding remains in place for refugees from Ukraine would depend on how long the war lasts, Mr McGrath said.
Thousands of Ukrainians were already working and making a contribution to Irish society, he said, and he expected some of them to stay in the country.
A summer statement on the Budget is expected in early July.
'Enormous challenges'
Minister McGrath says he will certainly not be bullied over the Budget.
"Anybody who knows me, knows I can be as tough as anybody else when it comes to negotiations. I will always be conciliatory and polite, but I can be as firm as I need to be," he told reporters in Ashtown in Dublin 15 at the launch of a new housing development there.
He said he would be designing the tax package and it would be done in close consultation with all his government colleagues, adding "that work will be finalised in the coming months."
He said he would be having a full meeting with his tax team later today to prepare his first budget as Minister for Finance which he hoped would support people, advance the decarbonisation agenda and help small businesses to scale up.
Asked whether election lines were being drawn due to apparent tensions between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ministers over the forthcoming Budget, Minister McGrath said: "To be honest relations have been really good and I have no doubt that that can and will continue."
He said the government had two budgets to go and faced enormous challenges.
"The truth is we can only address those challenges by working as a team and I have always believed in adopting a team-based approach to taking on challenges and working through issues," Minister McGrath said.
He added that unity had to be the hallmark of any government as it worked through challenges including housing and migration.
He said it was important that the government see out its term and he said the close working relationship he had with Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe was as essential to working towards the delivery of a budget as it had been over the last three years.
Asked if his colleagues were team players, he said there would always be a certain about of jockeying for position and that every three-party government coalition there would be times when parties would want to "assert their identity" or "carve out space" on a particular issue.
He said he was long enough around to recognise that and that framing a budget was a complex task.
'Vigorous debate'
On the Budget and income tax, Minister McGrath said he expected there to be a vigorous debate among the three parties in coalition.
He said it was important the process was respected and in the coming weeks the parameters would be set before the summer recess in the Summer Economic Statement.
On the issue of income tax, he said there was a programme for government commitment which had been honoured so far in terms of a number of reductions on the burden of income tax.
He said he was confident progress could continue in that regard.
Minister McGrath said he wanted to reduce the burden on low to middle income workers, which would be an important consideration when it comes to finalising the framing of the tax package.
He said there would be many other demands and asks including legitimate calls for more investment in childcare and to increase fixed incomes for pensioners, carers and people on disability allowance.
There would be a continued focus on housing as a top priority to make sure "we meet that enormous societal need," he said.
He said there would be a long-term reserve fund and he also intended to make further funding available on the capital side to continue to invest in infrastructure and to build more homes.
He said what he would not allow to happen was for windfall receipts to be used to fund permanent measures, tax reductions or permanent expenditure increases.
Ashtown
Minister McGrath was speaking as he published the second review of Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI), which helped finance a housing development in Ashtown, Dublin 15, which includes mixed use owner-occupied as well as rental and social and affordable housing.
He said he expected HBFI to continue for the next two years at least and that there would be a review in 2025.
Asked about the high cost of some of the units, he said the role of HBFI was to provide debt finance to developers, which was fully repaid on commercial terms.
He said there were other measures in place to help with affordability including the Help to Buy scheme and he said he suspected a lot of the units in this development were bought with the help of that scheme.
Travel documents
Asked about the reported problem of some new arrivals into the State, destroying their travel documents when they come to Ireland, Minister McGrath said his Fine Gael colleague and Minister for Justice Simon Harris was working to ensure procedures are tight.
He said it was important that while Ireland met its obligations towards international protection applicants, "any evidence of the wilful destruction of passports or other documentation that people may have had when they boarded the plane but then don't seem to have when they disembark from the plane" was an issue that should be actively examined by authorities.
Asked whether there should be more gardaí at airports, he said he would leave operational details to the authorities.
