Cabinet to meet on refugee crisis as 78 turned away from State accommodation

Ukranian refugees, Tetiana Antropova and Tetiana Romanko, stayed at Dublin Airport over the weekend, due to the lack of accommodation available. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The Cabinet will use an incorporeal meeting later this week to sign off on a number of emergency measures to help with the refugee crisis, as it emerged 78 people were turned away from State accommodation.

A Government source has said due to a drop in numbers at the Citywest hub and the Dublin Airport facility, they are confident that they will no longer have to turn people away.

Up to five army barracks and public and private buildings including Baggot Street Hospital will be refurbished, to help with the accommodation shortage.

It is understood that up to 100 places at an army barracks in the east of the country could be made available quickly.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko at the official opening of a Ukrainian photography exhibition in Dublin earlier this month. She described the lack of accommodation as 'unacceptable'. Picture: Peter Cavanagh

Dormitory rooms will be used in refurbished council buildings to make these properties available to around 4,000 people.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has also confirmed the construction of modular buildings will increase from 500 to 700 and will help house over 2,000 families.

However, despite works beginning on some sites across the country, the units will not come on stream until early next year.

Shortage 'Unacceptable' 

It comes as Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman and his officials met with the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko who in recent days has said the lack of accommodation for Ukrainians coming to Ireland is "unacceptable".

Fine Gael senator Garret Ahearn has said he was “deeply disappointed” with her comments when she said the people of Ukraine weren’t warned about the housing crisis in Ireland.

We have been honest about our accommodation difficulties.

The Cabinet incorporeal meeting will sign off on a number of measures, including an increase from €400 to €800 in the payment to households that help house a Ukrainian refugee.

There is also set to be a renewed call for people to pledge accommodation for those seeking refuge here, to be overseen by local authorities and the Taoiseach’s department.

A plan to charge people from Ukraine staying in hotels for the cost of their food has also been considered, but this will only apply in cases of new hotel contracts.

Around 49 refugees were housed on Monday night at a facility at Dublin Airport, while 12 refugees who spent a number of nights sleeping on the floor and on chairs in the 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 on Monday.

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, the Department of Integration confirmed.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald criticised the Taoiseach for the State’s failure to accommodate all Ukrainian refugees, and described the issue as a “social catastrophe”.