The Minister for Justice and Migration Jim O'Callaghan will seek Government approval to change how people from Ukraine are accommodated in Ireland.
The minister is preparing timelines for the transition from Temporary Protection for Ukrainian citizens currently residing in Ireland.
Already the Government has signalled that it will withdraw tourist and commercial accommodation housing up to 16,000 Ukrainians.
It was agreed at a Cabinet sub-committee recently to withdraw State-contracted commercial accommodation to pre-March 2024 residents, except for those highly vulnerable.
The process is expected to begin in August on a phased basis over a six-month period.
Ukrainian people will be afforded a minimum of three months' notice of this change.
The properties will be returned to tourism and potentially the private rental sector.
It is also likely that the €600 Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme will be wound down in the last four months of this year and end next March.
A reduction to €400 might be introduced in September, and this will affect around 42,000 people in hosted accommodation.
Autism Protocol
The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill are bringing a memo to Cabinet on the new autism assessment process for children and adults.
The Autism Protocol has been developed in consultation with autistic people, clinicians and Health Service Executive (HSE) staff in disability, primary care and mental health services.
It is seeking to provide, for the first time, a standardised autism assessment for children and adults right across the HSE and the agencies that it funds.
The change would enable people to get an autism diagnosis and access to services, without an Assessment of Need.
The waiting time for these assessments is currently around two years.
Meanwhile, a new ten-year strategy to reduce rates of suicide and self-harm will go before the Government.
It will look at ways of reducing societal risk factors around self-harm and suicide such as poverty, addiction and online harm.
The strategy aims to expand supports for people in distress in community settings.
This includes dedicated mental health nursing teams in emergency departments.
There is also a stronger focus on supporting people bereaved by suicide.
The implementation plan for the strategy will be published by Mental Health Minister Mary Butler in September.
Financial education
The Tánaiste Simon Harris will update Cabinet on the National Financial Literacy Strategy which will set out more than 100 measures to deepen financial knowledge across the country.
A review of the 2025 Action Plan shows that two million people were reached through financial education coverage across print, television and radio, and that a further 170,000 students engaged directly with financial literacy programmes.
Higher Education Minister James Lawless will bring a Memorandum to Government outlining a major rebranding of Ireland’s international scholarship programmes.
The programme will be expanded from 60 to 100 scholarships by the end of the decade.
Scholarships will be more strategically targeted at priority areas such as research excellence, critical skills, and key international partnerships.
Supports will be enhanced to attract top-tier global talent, including increasing stipends to €15,000.
