The provision of accommodation and supports for Ukraine refugees coming to Ireland is likely to top €1 billion this year but the Government will continue to honour its international obligations despite the strains it is causing, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath has said.
Mr McGrath said he fully accepted that there is a real challenge to provide emergency accommodation for the 40,000 Ukrainian refugees already in Ireland, but the Government was committed to accepting more refugees in line with its international commitments.
“It is possible that the costs associated with looking after people coming from Ukraine, fleeing the war there, could exceed €1 billion euro when you take into account all the different forms of support that we are providing as a country and that is a significant sum of money.
“I don’t think anybody can accuse us of not stepping up to the mark and not doing everything we can possibly can — we recognise the nature of the accommodation in some cases is far from ideal, it’s not of the standard we would like but I think we have to remember this is a war situation.
“People are fleeing for their lives, civilians are being killed every day in Ukraine and the first priority is to make sure they are safe here, that they have shelter and food and that they are well looked after and the Irish state and the Irish people, I have no doubt, will continue to do that.”
Speaking after he officially opened the first in a series of fast acting battery plants at the ESB Power Station at Aghada in east Cork, Mr McGrath said that the €1 billion funding for Ukrainian refugees was coming out of a special contingency fund set up by the Government to provide for emergencies.
Mr McGrath acknowledged that refugees sleeping on the floor of the old terminal building at Dublin Airport was not acceptable, but he said a series of emergency measures were in train including the provision of emergency tented accommodation at Gormanston Army Camp from Monday.
Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien was also working on a number of public housing stock solutions, including the provision of modular housing to accommodate Ukrainian refugees which would become available over the coming months which would also help ease the situation, he said.
“We are facing into a period of acute pressure when it comes to accommodation for people who are fleeing the war and there is no point saying otherwise, it is going to be difficult over the weeks and months ahead so there will be pinch points,” said Mr McGrath.
“It is likely we will have to bring on stream further solutions like the Gormanstown one, which is not ideal, they are not of the standard we would like but we are seeing similar measures throughout Europe as people fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February.
“Millions of people have had to leave their homeland of Ukraine because Vladamir Putin is dropping bombs on their country in an untargeted manner, and we have to make sure that we provide the basic supports for those people, and we will continue to that.”
Mr McGrath rejected the idea that Ireland had overstated its capacity to cater for Ukrainian refugees and said that Ireland was part of a collective European Union decision to provide accommodation for people fleeing the war in Ukraine and would continue to honour its international commitments.
“While we are under pressure, countries that are closer to Ukraine geographically have received many, many, multiples of the numbers of people who have come to Ireland and they are managing, again, in less-than-ideal circumstances, but we have to understand the context.
“People are fleeing Ukraine for their lives — bombs are dropping now in civilian areas, ordinary people are being killed every day and they are coming here because they know they will be looked after in Ireland to the best of our ability ... they will be safe, and their basic needs will be met.”
Asked if the Government had any projections for the numbers of Ukrainians likely to come to Ireland in the months ahead, given a prediction by Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue in March that Ireland could accept up to 200,000, Mr McGrath said it was impossible to predict the numbers.
“The truth is we don’t know, and it very much depends on what happens in the war in the weeks and months ahead but we have to accept the reality that this war doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon so there is likely to be a continuing flow of people coming here from Ukraine.”
Asked if he was concerned about the results of an Irish Times/Ipsos poll which found 84pc believed there was a limit to the numbers of asylum seekers Ireland can cope with, Mr McGrath said it was important to distinguish between Ukrainian refugees and others seeking protection here in Ireland.
“I think we have to draw a distinction between people who are coming here from Ukraine and are fleeing war and who are leaving their country to save the lives of themselves and their families and others who are not facing the same threat and are seeking international protection.”
Separately to Ukrainians, there had been a fivefold plus increase in the numbers seeking asylum this year compared to last year — up from 2,648 for 2021 to 7,080 for the year to date — and the process to deal with asylum applications that had been paused due to Covid 19 needs to restart, he said.
“These people coming from places other than Ukraine are entitled to apply for protections here — by the end of the year, those numbers will be up five or six times on 2021 by year’s end and we do believe the UK immigration policy is a factor in that increase but there are also other factors.
“The normal procedures dealing with those applicants were stood down during Covid, but they need to be reinstated now and people who do not meet the test and whose applications have failed, having been afforded due process, they will now be deported in keeping with normal procedures.”
