Up to 750 Ukrainians to be housed in tents in Laois after Electric Picnic ends

The Department of Integration said it would use the festival site for the 'very short-term' as it confirmed that more than 10,000 people fleeing war in Ukraine arrived in Ireland since May 1. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins

Up to 750 Ukrainian refugees are to be accommodated in tents at Stradbally, County Laois, after the Electric Picnic festival comes to a close early next week.

Amid an ongoing significant shortfall of accommodation, the Department of Integration has signed a contract for the use of the site for six weeks on a phased, contingency basis.

The news comes as the Government confirmed on Friday that tents will be used for new arrivals from Ukraine due to a lack of accommodation.

While student accommodation has been used to plug the gap over the summer, the Government is now scrambling to source alternatives as students return.

The accommodation facility at Stradbally will be operated by a company called Pastures New Limited. The emergency accommodation setup will consist of a single grassland site, surrounded by secure fencing. 

10,000 arrived in four months

The site will be set up to hold a series of tents with three-person and six-person configurations as required. As the site will be used on a temporary short-term basis, children will not attend local primary schools. 

A spokeswoman for the Department of Integration said the accommodation at Stradbally is for the “very short-term" and efforts will be made to secure other short-term options for those placed there.

“The summer months have seen an increase in the number of arrivals from Ukraine, with more than 10,000 people fleeing here since May 1, an average of around 650 people per week. It is estimated that up to 500 people could continue to arrive over the next weeks from Ukraine,

Due to this significant shortfall from next week, tented accommodation will be the primary source of accommodation for new arrivals from Ukraine, she added. 

€363m hotel bonanza 

Meanwhile, hoteliers and other accommodation providers have shared in a €363.7m (incl VAT) bonanza from accommodating Ukrainians and international protection (IP) applicants — in only three months.

New figures show that the State is on course to pay out an estimated €1.45bn to hoteliers and other accommodation providers for housing Ukrainians and IP applicants for the 12 months of 2023.

The €1.45bn estimate is based on new figures published by the Department of Integration which show that €363.7m was paid out in accommodation and other services in accommodating Ukrainians and IP applicants from January 1 to the end of March this year.

The department's purchase order records show that accommodation providers housing Ukrainians and those providing other services to Ukrainians received €224.37m for the first three months of 2023.

The detailed figures show that the owner of the country’s largest hotel, Citywest, Cape Wrath Hotel UC in Dublin received €13.95m for the first quarter.

The figures also show that a little-known Co Cork company, the Millstreet-based Cromey Ltd, set up in 2020, received one of the top amounts at €7.66m for the first three months in accommodating Ukrainians. The directors of Cromey are listed as Thomas Duggan and Hannah Duggan.