Ireland needs extra 35,000 permanent homes for Ukrainian refugees 

A Ukrainian evacuee hugs a child in the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. Picture Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP via Getty Images

An extra 35,000 permanent homes could be needed for Ukrainian refugees on top of the 33,000 new houses that must be built every year, the Housing Minister has said.

The Government is scrambling to convert commercial properties, vacant buildings and even churches to house the tens of thousands of Ukrainians that are expected to arrive here in the coming days and weeks.

The Taoiseach has said crisis measures such as tented accommodation at the Gormanston camp in Meath may be needed in the coming weeks.

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien confirmed the bill for providing accommodation — both emergency and long term — could reach €2.5bn.

"There is a financial cost, we know that," Mr O'Brien said, adding the extra accommodation would have to be found on top of the commitments within the Government's Housing for All plan.

Mr O'Brien said about 500 properties have been so far identified which could be converted into homes for those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

"A lot of what we're going to be doing is taking maybe old commercial stock, old State stock and converting that into apartments or homes," he said.

Given the extent of the Russian bombing, the minister said it was "more than likely" that many of those who flee here will have to stay for a "sustained" period of time.

"We are going to have to look at providing permanent housing solutions in that space. We could potentially require up to an additional 35,000 homes over the period of time should we be looking at a permanently accommodating," he told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne.

"We need 33,000 homes per annum as you know under the Housing for All plan, which we're well on our way to delivering and we're increasing output every week and this year will be a good year for delivery, but the additional requirements could very well be another 35,000 homes."

Mr O'Brien said: "I'm planning within my own department, with my own senior officials' group. I've been asked to do so by the Taoiseach around looking at other measures on how we can expedite delivery of more permanent or semi-permanent housing and that involves a couple of things like looking at emergency planning powers that I could use potentially under the Planning Act, looking at how we can shorten procurements because one of the issues obviously when we go to build new estates or refurbish existing homes as well is the area of procurement and how long that that takes.

"There are some emergency provisions available to us there," Mr O'Brien said, adding that bringing voids back into use will also be examined.