Government spending €30m per week to house Ukrainian refugees

Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed the total value of payments made to private providers so far in 2023 is €202m. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

The State has so far paid out €676m to hotels, B&Bs, and a number of private providers to accommodate Ukrainians fleeing war.

New data has revealed a convent in Westmeath and a golf village in Co Clare struck two of the most valuable deals with the State in the final three months of last year.

A breakdown of the contracts awarded by the State reveals that deals worth almost €85m for 133 contracts across the country were agreed between October and December.

This is on top of the €337m awarded to 270 hotels, hostels, and B&Bs between April and September last year.

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Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has also confirmed the total value of payments made to private providers so far in 2023 is €202m.

The Irish Examiner has learned the Government is to ramp up the use of retrofitted office buildings to shelter Ukrainians and asylum seekers, as a number of hotels have decided not to renew their contracts. 

Some hotels have also decided to split their accommodation, offering some rooms for tourism and others for refugees.

The State is now anticipating “a more difficult time to find accommodation for Ukrainians", according to senior Government sources.

The latest data shows the money paid to hotels, B&Bs, convents, and hostels between October and December last year, includes:

• East Clare Golf Village, which provides two and three-bedroom cottages, was awarded a State contract worth €7.8m to accommodate Ukrainians;
• Our Lady’s Bower Convent in Westmeath received €6.6m;
• €4.8m to Hotel Westport, Co Mayo;
• Almost €4.6m to two Grand Central Hotels in Co Donegal ;
• €2.5m to Jameson Apartments, Galway; 
• €1.7m to Abbey Hostel, Clare;
• €1.7m to Dundrum House Hotel, Tipperary; 
• €1.2m to The Pier Hotel, Limerick.

The data, obtained by the Irish Examiner, shows just 16 contracts account for over €39m.

Tourism hotspots, such as Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Clare, and Donegal, have a significant number of hotels, B&Bs in use by the State, with contracts ranging from €16,500 to €7.8m.

A total of 79,783 Ukrainian people are now living in Ireland, according to the most up-to-date figures, and around 85 are still arriving here every day on average.

Up to 1,600 Ukrainians are living in accommodation pledged by households across the country, under a system overseen by the Red Cross and local authorities.

Others have made private living arrangements with households outside the formal systems.

On average, the payment and finance team in the Department of Integration is now processing around €30m worth of payments every week to private providers.

However, a significant backlog of payments to hotels continues, with a number of TDs complaining to Mr O'Gorman about the “disastrous effect on their cash flow”. 

Mr O’Gorman said there are more than 750 contractors paid monthly, and 13 staff have been reassigned to process invoices from within the department. 

The Government has also hired externally to help speed up payments to hotels.

A spokesperson for the Department of Integration said the value of the contracts provided are estimates, and the actual amounts paid to providers depend on occupancy and usage.

The contracts include catering services, cleaning, laundry facilities, food and water, and security services.