Taoiseach does not rule out paying people to house Ukrainian refugees 

Refugees fleeing conflict in Ukraine arrive at the Medyka border crossing in Poland. File picture: Visar Kryeziu/AP

The Taoiseach has not ruled out paying families who take in refugees from Ukraine.

There is growing pressure on the country to find suitable accommodation for the refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

The Irish Examiner has reported that universities are in talks to offer up to 2,000 beds, while large numbers of hotel rooms are to be made available too. 

However, it is understood that large numbers of the rooms and homes offered by private individuals are unsuitable or unavailable.

Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko, Anastasiia Semonova, age five, daughter of Yana Semenova, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Leinster House after the address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine. Picture: Maxwells

It appears the Government may consider paying people as an incentive to open their homes to refugees.

Independent TD, Peter Fitzpatrick, said in the Dáil this week that he had been contacted recently by families hosting people fleeing the Russian invasion.

Mr Fitzpatrick said families are receiving “very little if any contact from the relevant government departments”.

The Louth TD said people were not “looking for profit” but are “looking for support for the extra costs they have incurred”.

Households in Britain will be offered £350 a month to open their homes to people fleeing the war and Mr Martin did not rule out the idea, when speaking in Finland on Friday: "Nothing has been ruled out in that regard.

“I think in the first instance, what I would like to see is to go through the existing pledges that have been made," he said. 

"I think we have to put more resources behind that exercise, and then take it from there.

"Certainly, we will look at all possibilities around that, particularly in terms of freeing up existing capacity within the existing housing stock."

The Taoiseach says the Government is taking advice from the Department of Children due to the sheer volume of refugees that have come into the country.

We have to be very careful that everything we do is with a view to protecting all refugees who come in.

“Initially this was not a monetary issue, but I do understand that that is a fair point that Deputy Fitzpatrick raised in the Dáil in terms of people coming under increasing costs arising from that, because of the protective measures, the directive from the European Union, we provide social supports and income to refugees.

“That said, we will consider all of those issues, but in the immediate term, the focus will be on getting through all of those pledges and having an assessment then in terms of what is available and what is not available.”