Dublin hotel tells more than 400 Ukrainian refugees they must leave

The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, had a six-month contract to provide accommodation to Ukrainians. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A Dublin hotel has told more than 400 asylum seekers and refugees from Ukraine who have been staying there for the last six months that they will have to leave. 

The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry had a six-month contract to provide accommodation, but the residents have now been told the contract will not be renewed.

“The moves to alternative accommodation will commence shortly and we will be carrying them out over the coming weeks,” the residents were informed by letter from the Department of Children. 

The move will particularly disrupt for dozens of families whose children have been attending schools in the surrounding area.

The letter also tells the refugees: "Due to the severe pressure on the availability of IPAS [International Protection Accommodation Services], we will not be in position to take requests for moves to particular locations."

The Crowne Plaza is one of the 365 hotels, out of 500 contracted in total, for which initial six-month contracts are going to be completed between now and Christmas. It is unknown how many will discontinue as the Crowne Plaza has done, or whether some will re-sign shorter contracts to take them up to late spring when the tourist season begins.

Earlier this month, the Government U-turned on moving 135 Ukrainian, mainly women and children, from a hotel in Killarney to make room for 200 male asylum seekers seeking international protection.

Tomorrow, the Cabinet will discuss measures aimed at boosting the availability of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees after 43 were forced to sleep in Dublin Airport last weekend. Government sources said that they are hopeful this weekend will not see similar scenes, but accepted that is not guaranteed.

Ukrainian refugee Nikolaj sleeping on the floor at Dublin Airport. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The payment for families taking in Ukrainian refugees is set to be doubled from €400 to €800 as the Government scrambles to find accommodation for arrivals fleeing the war.

Cabinet will also consider a proposal which could see Ukrainians pay for their own food in new hotel contracts and the use of local authorities to oversee the provision of pledged accommodation. A further 200 modular homes are also being planned.

The meeting comes as the Department of Children confirmed to the Irish Examiner that €274m has been spent to date on serviced accommodation, including hotel accommodation, for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

The Public Accounts Committee heard on Thursday that Ireland is set to spend in excess of €1bn on the fallout from the war in 2023 and that already this year some €593m has been spent.

Kevin McCarthy, secretary general of the department, told the committee that overall Ukraine expenditure is set to rise by “significantly more” next year, due to the ongoing arrival of Ukrainian people fleeing the conflict, and could “potentially” top €1bn, though he added that any estimates would come with “very strong health warnings”.

It emerged at the committee that the average cost of accommodating an asylum seeker each day is just under €70 per night. Some €35m, meanwhile, has been spent on modular housing to help ease the crisis to date, with a further €36m given to local authorities to aid their attempts to manage the situation.

The Office of Public Works confirmed that a shortlist of sites for modular housing is being prepared, based on a list of potential sites for rapid-build homes that have been put forward by public bodies.

"So far, locations in Cavan Town, Mahon in Cork, Thurles, Sligo, and Claremorris have been confirmed by the Department," said a spokesperson.

"As site investigation works are completed on a number of other potential sites, the precise locations of additional sites in the programme will be confirmed."

A new fund is in the works under both the Department of Community and Rural Development and the Department of Public Expenditure which will see counties that have experienced a significant influx of Ukrainian refugees get financial help from the Government due to the additional pressure placed on services.

Sources said that the fund is in the early stages and its size and scope have not been decided, but it is likely to be similar to the Covid-19 Response Fund, which enabled towns and communities to obtain funding during the pandemic.