Ukrainian refugees forced to sleep in Dublin Airport after Citywest closure
It has emerged that 33 Ukrainian refugees have been told they are without accommodation after arriving in Ireland this week. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
The Government is appealing to hotels, owners of buildings and the public to offer their homes to accommodate Ukrainian refugees as it is understood that 33 refugees were forced to sleep in Dublin Airport overnight.
This follows warnings from the Government that the State can no longer guarantee refugees housing and Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman admitting that some international protection applicants could end up sleeping on the streets.
It has emerged that 33 Ukrainian refugees were told there was no accommodation available after arriving in Ireland as the at-capacity Citywest transit hub is closed to new arrivals.
Fine Gael TD and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon said he understood that 33 Ukrainian men were processed at Citywest in Dublin but were unable to be accommodated last night. "My understanding is that 33 male Ukrainians were not able to be accommodated last night. That is a really disappointing place for us to be in. We don't want to be in that space.
We can't guarantee everybody who comes here a bed right now. We have to be honest and upfront about that as we redouble our efforts.
"There has been a huge effort in terms of dealing with this scale of this. We are talking about 60,000 people who have come to our shores this year who are seeking and who have been accommodated by the State to date. That is the equivalent of the population of Waterford city. That is an absolutely massive undertaking."
The Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has said that all those affected were single men.
From Monday there will be an overnight facility in Dublin Airport where refugees will stay if arriving into Ireland on a late flight before being transferred to Citywest the next day to be processed.
A significant increase in the number of people seeking accommodation and the closure of Citywest has sparked a scramble for accommodation, with Junior Minister Niall Collins describing the government's approach to the issue as "multi-faceted".
"The Department is seeking ways to generate more capacity to deal with the influx of people fleeing the war in Ukraine, whether that's in hotels or whether that's public buildings or whether it's people offering their own private accommodation," Mr Collins said.
The Head of Policy and Communication with the Simon Community, Wayne Stanley, has said whilst frontline services plan to everything in their power to support Ukrainians as they arrive in Ireland the situation facing those who make their way to this country is "very worrying."
Mr Stanley told RTÉ's Saturday with Katie Hannon, that there isn't capacity in the system to house people.
"We know that it is likely, particularly if the numbers coming in to Ireland continue, that the situation is likely to get worse and more stressful on the front line. Obviously the Simon Community and all the homeless services in Dublin and around the country will do everything we can to support people. But there is no capacity in the system at the moment.
So it is a tired and overused phrase but this really is a 'perfect storm' that we are heading in to. "
Mr Stanley said he had witnessed one or two isolated incidents of refugees sleeping rough. However, up to now it has not been a cause for concern within the service.
"It is not something we have been seeing. The outreach team haven't seen it on the streets in any scale. Obviously the coming weeks are going to be very difficult so we are very concerned."
Mr Stanley said the government is prioritising vulnerable people on arrival. However, he is worried that families could face harsh circumstances in the coming months.
"As the capacity tightens further, it is a very worrying vista that even families could get caught up in this as well. There is no right person to sleep rough. But obviously the level of protection for children is the higher standard we all set for ourselves.
What is really important to us is that we start to look beyond the crisis accommodation. We need to look where we are going to move people on to. It appears unfortunately that this war is going to continue."
Paul Murphy, People Before Profit TD for Dublin South-West, urged the Government to take more hotel rooms to house refugees and those facing eviction.
He told broadcaster Katie Hannon of his belief that vacant properties must be utilised in the longer term.
"We have 50,000 vacant homes in the State, other than holiday homes, which have been vacant for five years or more. We need to use them."
On Thursday, Mr O'Gorman said that in the interests of the welfare of those presently at Citywest, a decision had been taken to pause arrivals to the transit hub.
"What we are making clear is we're not in a position to guarantee everyone an offer of accommodation," he told RTÉ's programme.
"So what we will do is we will prioritise vulnerable people, we will prioritise women and children in terms of the provision of accommodation."
When asked whether there was a danger that people would have to sleep on the streets, Mr O'Gorman said: "I can't rule that out.
"That's why we're letting people know that if they have an option — if they're in another EU member state — to either stay there or look to other EU member states, that we can't guarantee State-provided accommodation into next week."
The Government warned in July that it was facing a "severe shortage" of accommodation for arriving Ukrainians, which resulted in
asylum seekers having to stay in a Dublin Airport terminal overnight.
The Department of Integration is accommodating more than 58,000 people (42,000 Ukrainian, 16,000 International Protection). This figure compares with 7,250 at this time last year.
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