Red Cross criticises local authorities' 'slow' progress in housing Ukrainians

Sleeping bags being put down for Ukrainians arrivals at Dublin Airport. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The Irish Red Cross has accused local authorities of being too slow to match Ukrainians fleeing war, to available accommodation.

Irish Red Cross secretary general Liam O'Dwyer said progress by a number of councils has been disappointing and "slower than I would have wanted it to be".

There have been ongoing delays by local authorities in matching Ukrainians with Irish pledges, with many homeowners waiting months for calls.

Out of 10,587 pledged properties received by local authorities, 9,468 pledges have been reviewed and 3,456 properties have actually been inspected. 

Just 1,834 have been matched since the councils became involved in the process in mid-July, according to data obtained from the Department of Integration based on reports provided by local authorities and NGO partners. 

Liam O’Dwyer says one in three properties pledged should be taken up.

“You can see very clearly that some local authorities have actually done very well and others simply haven’t,” he said.

Angie Gough, chief executive of Helping Irish Hosts, a voluntary organisation that matches families outside of the State system, also criticised the performance of local authorities on their progress in matching families. 

Helping Irish Hosts has found places for 975 Ukrainians in 355 Irish homes since February as well as providing ongoing support for families.

Ms Gough said Helping Irish Hosts was employed to assist the Irish Red Cross in matching families in Maynooth earlier this year after student accommodation used by Ukrainians was due to be returned to student use. 

She said the data shared with them from the Irish Red Cross list of pledges was “of real quality” and they matched Ukrainians with one in two families contacted, much higher than the one in five rate Helping Irish Hosts experiences with their own list of pledgers.

Ms Gough said local authorities should be matching closer to half of the 9,468 pledges reviewed, compared to the 1,834 currently matched.

Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said he “recognises there have been problems in the system” which stem from an inability to cope with the level of demand.

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He said a further 2,000 pledges are “in play at the moment with local authorities” but emphasised that many are “holiday homes in isolated areas which may not be suitable for Ukrainian families”.

He told RTÉ's Prime Time that accommodating 44,000 Ukrainians in State accommodation — the majority of whom are in hotels with just 10% are in pledged accommodation — has been a “significant task” and “by in large we have done it well”.

According to a Department of Integration spokesperson, properties are initially pledged through the Irish Red Cross portal, which are then passed to the local authorities, whose responsibility it is to assess pledges.

Confusion seems to surround the process internally. A department spokesperson said local authorities have been tasked to inspect and match pledges. But some local authorities, including Dublin City Council, have told the Irish Examiner that they have no responsibility in implementing pledges and solely inspect properties.

Once a pledge is passed on, implementing partners are tasked with matching Ukrainian refugees to pledges that are suitable. The implementing partners are the 31 local authorities and non-government organisation (NGO) support partners including the Irish Red Cross and the International Organisation for Migration.

According to a Department of Integration spokesperson, properties are initially pledged through the Irish Red Cross 

The department spokesperson said that some local authorities have requested assistance from NGOs in response.

“Twelve local authorities carry out the full end-to-end assessing and matching process directly while 19 local authorities carry out inspections directly and are working with support NGOs to match refugees with pledges,” the spokesperson said.