The Taoiseach has defended Ireland's response to the accommodating of refugees coming here from Ukraine, after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said earlier that housing for refugees arriving in the coming weeks cannot be guaranteed.
Speaking in the Dáil, Micheál Martin said there had been an extraordinary response in Ireland to Vladimir Putin's immoral and illegal war, and the country had taken in one of the highest amounts of refugees per head of population in Europe.
Mr Martin said more than 55,000 Ukrainians had found refuge here and that is not a story of failure and it was not a case of Government "cobbling a plan".
He was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who said there was a social catastrophe facing the country around housing along with failures to house those arriving from Ukraine in recent days.
She told the Dáil that Government was scrambling to come up with a plan to provide accommodation for those fleeing a war.
The only Government plan was to cross its fingers and hope for the best, she said. .
Mr Martin said that Sinn Féin was trying to play this issue for "crude domestic politics" and that he did not accept Ms McDonald's analysis and that it demonstrated what Mr Putin himself wanted.
Ms McDonald said that the housing system was "broken beyond recognition" and that as a result, "everybody loses".
"The facts are, the people arrived from Ukraine...and there was nowhere for them to go...I think we can all agree that is not an acceptable situation."
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald says Government are failing to deliver on the accommodation needs of refugees. Taoiseach Micheál Martin says he doesn't see it as a 'story of failure’ and other countries are also finding it challenging | Read more coverage: https://t.co/rJqCZZKAGy pic.twitter.com/n5PxXLvoqj
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 25, 2022
It comes as a meeting of senior Government figures noted last night that most contracts with hotels accommodating Ukrainian refugees will end in December and it is expected that future agreements will not cover the cost of food.
It is understood that up to 100 places at an army barracks in the east of the country could be made available quickly.
The land around at least four other barracks across the country could be used for modular or prefab housing under plans being examined by the Government.
This would not impinge on the working of these barracks, the OPW has been told.
Dormitory rooms will be used in refurbished council buildings to quickly make these properties available to around 4,000 people.
It has also been confirmed that an overnight facility for refugees and international protection applicants. which was intended to open last night on the Dublin Airport campus, did in fact become operational.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said that around 49 people were housed in the building.
Twelve refugees who spent a number of nights sleeping on the floor and on chairs in Dublin Airport have been moved to alternative accommodation.
In total, 78 people seeking refuge in Ireland were turned away without State provided accommodation over the last few days, including 44 Ukrainian refugees and 34 international protection applicants.
In previously unreleased figures, the department confirmed that nine international protection applicants were turned away without accommodation on Friday, and 25 were turned away yesterday.
However, all are now being offered accommodation, and efforts are ongoing to contact all 78 individuals.
The 44 Ukrainian refugees are being accommodated in a sports hall in Dublin 7, including a group who slept at Dublin Airport over the weekend.
Sergey Chudaev said that they had been given shelter, access to bathrooms and regular hot meals and were very grateful to those who helped and supported them.
"The conditions are as comfortable as possible, especially after spending the nights at the airport," Mr Chudaev said.
Three others who had been told there was no State provided accommodation available to them on Friday, and who had slept in Dublin Airport for two nights, were provided with accommodation by a private citizen on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the department said concerns remain about finding accommodation for new arrivals amid an acute shortage of available beds.
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Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman met the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko today to discuss the ongoing shortfall in accommodation.
It's understood the minister flagged that the situation is likely to remain difficult for some weeks to come.
The pair discussed how that message might be communicated to people thinking of travelling to Ireland and the embassy will see how that can be done.
Last weekend, Ms Gerasko criticised the situation as "unacceptable" and said people should have been warned of the problem before they came to Ireland.
It is understood next weekend is expected to be challenging with projections of a shortfall again.
Speaking later on RTÉ's Prime Time, Mr O’Gorman said that pledged properties by homeowners "is a really important strand of our accommodation strategy" but acknowledged that "the original pledge system was imperfect".
Speaking about the Government promise to refurbish up to 500 state and private properties for Ukrainian refugees and to make approximately 100 of these operational within weeks, Minister O’Gorman said that only ten of such properties were operational.
"I think it's fair to say the refurbishment scheme is behind schedule."
On the Government pledge to deliver 500 modular homes by this month, Mr O’Gorman said he hoped to see the first batch of them "delivered by the end of this year or early in January and the second tranche brought in in March of next year."
Despite plans falling behind schedule Minister O’Gorman added: "by and large, we've done it well. We have done it in a way that the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian community recognise the very significant accommodation supports and the very significant education, health and other supported. It's a significant task. And we're working hard."
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the Government is going to "hit blips in the road" as it continues to make provisions for refugees coming to Ireland.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Ms McEntee said: "More is going to have to be done, but it's not going to be easy and we have to be honest with people, we are going to hit blips in the road, like we did at the weekend."
She said the Government "can't turn on a tap overnight," having gone from providing accommodation for on average 3,000 international protection applicants per year to more than 75,000 since March.
Ms McEntee added that she expects more Ukrainians to come to Ireland over the winter months.
"We have to be really honest, this situation is not going to get any better," she said.
"We can see what Vladimir Putin is doing. He is literally destroying towns and villages, cutting off their energy to fuel supply."
Leader of the Labour Party Ivana Bacik said it was a matter of "grave concern" to see refugees sleeping on the floor of Dublin Airport.
Speaking in the Dáil, she said it was "disappointing" there had not been engagement earlier in the summer to ensure there was long term planning, and this was needed now.
She called for a whole of Government approach to tackle the issue, and said that both opposition and the Government needed to engage in a collective effort and not "political point scoring".
"Putin is weaponising refugee flows and we can't let him win," she said.
Responding, Mr Martin said unused buildings such as Baggot Street Hospital were being developed to provide accommodation, but this would take time.
He said reconfiguration of buildings and old army barracks to create capacity will take time but the introduction of rapid housing will have to feature now and in to the future at a much higher level.
Ireland 'can't guarantee accommodation' for refugees arriving from Ukraine in the coming weeks, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said. The Cabinet is looking at measures to boost accommodation supply, he added | Read more: https://t.co/itKq4vo8HP pic.twitter.com/sonFl6AYBX
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 25, 2022
The Irish Red Cross estimates there are 1,500 to 2,000 accommodation pledges that have not yet led to placements, but that many of these were in rural areas that have been proving more difficult to accommodate families, women and children.
Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross Liam O'Dwyer told RTÉ's News at One said that an average of three pledges of accommodation were being made a day, but in the past week this number had increased to eight or nine a day.
He said that the process of matching refugees with suitable accommodation "needs to be resourced".
Mr O'Dwyer said: "The Government has informed us that nearly 8,000 refugees are now living in pledged accommodation and that's broken down by roughly 4,900 at this stage in pledged accommodation through local authorities and ourselves.
"And then further, just over 3,000 or 3,500 are with ad hoc arrangements where people have offered (accommodation) over Facebook or through personal contacts and have taken people in.
"We have been saying all along, particularly for local authorities who are doing a very significant amount of the placement, that you need specific staff for that."
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that housing for Ukrainian refugees cannot be guaranteed by the State for "the next couple of weeks".
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting this morning, Mr Varadkar said that Ireland is experiencing "a severe accommodation shortage" and that there was "no point in denying that".
"And as a country, we're not in any way going to resile from our international obligations or resile from European solidarity, but we do need to say to people that if you come here, we can't guarantee you accommodation at the moment and indeed for the next couple of weeks, we can't yet guarantee it," Mr Varadkar said.
"I think Ireland has done very well as a society. I don't mean as a Government; I mean as a society, in responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis."
RTÉ News understands that the Government is working on a proposal to increase the payment for those hosting Ukrainian families from €400 a month to €800.
This move follows discussions by the three Government party leaders and senior ministers yesterday evening.
This increased rate is also likely to be paid to those who have provided vacant homes to Ukrainians.
There is also set to be a renewed call for people to pledge accommodation for those seeking refuge in Ireland, to be overseen by local authorities.
The matter is expected to go to Cabinet next week.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that Ireland has a legal and moral obligation to accommodate people arriving in Ireland from Ukraine.
Micheál Martin said EU countries were all in this together and one country cannot opt out.
Additional reporting: Mícheál Lehane, Sandra Hurley, Joan O'Sullivan, Laura Fletcher
