The Government has been accused of engaging in a "cosmetic row" over housing refugees for political purposes.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said that the Cabinet row is "more about shifting the issue... from one department to another", specifically from the Department of Children to the Department of Housing, and so from the Green Party to Fianna Fáil.
He asked if there is "a real effort" to deal with the issue, or "a political effort to make sure that one political party is not holding this hot political issue come the next election".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar responded that "rows in Government are much exaggerated".
He said that in the past two years Ireland has taken in 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine and a further 20,000 people from elsewhere.
Tonight he told his party that for the vast majority of those 120,000, the Irish Government and people have provided accommodation, food, heat, light, education, income and in some cases, jobs.
He said it is something they will look back on with pride.
Earlier today he said it is "becoming increasingly apparent to everyone" that "while there is no limit on the compassion of the Irish people" that "there is a limit on our capacity, and we're very much at that at the moment".
"We just don't know whether we'd be in a position to provide accommodation, and all those additional supports, for another 30,000 to 50,000 people, if that number arrived over the course of the next year."
He said that he is "very proud that, as a country, we've done that in the past two years, and not withstanding the difficulties that has caused and the enormous challenges and cost".
Mr Varadkar pointed to "a lot of secondary movements [of] Ukrainians who have been living for months in other parts of western Europe relocating to Ireland".
This is because "we have a better offering", he said, and so "the overall intention will be to bring the offering that we have more in line with other western European countries".
"There's no Government decision or agreement on it. But that work is very much under way at the moment."
This included a proposal that new arrivals would spend 90 days in dormitory style accommodation after which they would have to find a place to live.
This would mean that children in these facilities could receive tuition on site but not attend school.
This is said to have raised serious concerns among senior Cabinet figures, including Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
Some ministers were aggrieved that the general issue had been raised without any firm plan in place.
Read more:
Cabinet rife with tension ahead of policy change
