Taoiseach: Coping with Ukraine refugee crisis is 'very, very challenging'

Appearing to rule out any cap on numbers,” Micheál Martin said: 'Overall, it is challenging, but I think we can overcome this'

Bedding at the Gormanstown army camp in Co Meath. Picture: Government Information Services 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said coping with the Ukraine refugee crisis is “very, very challenging” given the scale of numbers fleeing the war.

Speaking in Donegal, Mr Martin said there has been a surge in people from Ukraine seeking shelter as well as an increase in people from other conflict zones seeking international protection.

He said the Government on Thursday agreed to increase capacity for reception centres for those seeking international protection and also to accommodate those coming in from Ukraine.

“It is very, very challenging given the scale of what is going on across Europe,” he said.

He said the government is looking at both short term and medium term accommodation options to deal with the influx of people.

He said the meeting of ministers agreed to accelerate the reconfiguration of State buildings into suitable accommodation.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there has been a surge in people from Ukraine seeking shelter as well as an increase in people from other conflict zones seeking international protection.

He said the Government is doing an analysis to figure out why so many people are now seeking international protection in Ireland.

Appearing to rule out any cap on numbers,” Mr Martin said: “Overall, it is challenging, but I think we can overcome this.

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman said about 100 people have been moved from Dublin Airport’s old terminal building where they had to sleep last night and about 30 people remain there this afternoon.

Speaking at lunchtime, he accepted Dublin Airport is not designed to accommodate people in the manner in which they are at present.

He said staff from his department are working to assist those coming in but said some are sleeping on camp beds and even blow up beds on the floor.

“No one is saying this is where we want to keep refugees or keep asylum seekers. So that's why we're moving people on from there as quickly as we can,” he said.

He said he and his officials are trying to avoid anybody staying more than one night at the airport.

Asked about expected numbers coming into the country in the coming days, he said in a wartime situation like this, it is a fluid situation.

The numbers of Ukrainians and numbers of international protection seekers arriving does kind of ebb and flow on days. “We found usually that fewer people arrive over the weekend,” he added.

He said the core focus now is to reduce numbers at the Citywest Hotel.

He said following the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, some additional University accommodation was located.

In addition, the Gormanstown tent village will provide about 300 bed spaces and the Department of Housing has also handed over its initial refurbished units, and there's about three to 500 spaces there, he said.

He accepted the handing back of student accommodation at the start of the academic year will be a “challenge”.

“We've always, I suppose, indicated that the the ending of the use of student accommodation would be a challenge for us. That's why it's really important that the Department of Housing has started to deliver on those refurbished units,” he said.

He said the OPW and his department are working toward providing 500 modular units in November, despite concerns that deadline will not be met.

“There's an eight week construction timeframe for the for the construction of the of the units themselves, and it's on that basis, I know that the order is going to be placed very soon,” he said.

Mr O’Gorman said that while the numbers of Ukrainians had peaked in April and started to decrease, the past six weeks has seen a rise in the numbers fleeing.

“What we have seen is maybe over the last six weeks, an increase in Ukrainians again and I think that is probably linked to the targeting of civilian areas by the Russian government,” he said.

Earlier today, the Tanaiste said there are no plans to cap the number ofUkrainian refugees arriving into the country.

Speaking in Galway on Friday,Leo Varadkar he said Ireland has not taken as many displaced Ukrainians as other countries on a comparative basis. 

He added that even with the system for receiving refugees being full, EU rules would not allow for limits to be placed.

Mr Varadkar also said a new reception centre is in the process of being procured but contracts have not yet been signed.

"In relation to people coming from Ukraine, we don't have any plans to limit numbers and bear in mind this is part of a European law," he said. "So it's actually not in our authority, in any case, to limit the numbers that are coming from Ukraine. 

We're really taking our fair share, and maybe not even quite that, in truth.

Mr Varadkar said "an appalling, cruel war" was being waged on Ukraine and if Ireland was to turn its back on refugees, they would end up in worse situations in camps in France or Greece.

He admitted that Ireland was facing an unprecedented situation and that accommodation was stretched.

"Nobody wants to see people having to sleep in the airports. That's not an acceptable situation," he said.

"But we shouldn't be blind to what's happening in the world at the moment. We've a war in Europe for the first time in 40 years. 

"While we are struggling with 40,000, there are 2m refugees in Poland, 350,000 In the Czech Republic (a country smaller than us), camps in France and in Greece for example, and they've had them for a very long time.

Leo Varadkar said Ireland was facing an unprecedented situation and that accommodation was stretched. Picture: Collins

"So what we're seeing in Ireland at the moment is something we've never seen before — 40,000 people have come from Ukraine, another 30,000 or 40,000 work permits are being issued to fill crucial skill gaps in Ireland, in our healthcare sector, for example, and in other areas. And then maybe 15,000 are expected in terms of international protection.

That's not far off 100,000 people [who have] come into the country this year, that is unprecedented.

"Some of it is planned, most of it is unplanned and it's going to be difficult to deal with and we're going to have to pull out all the stops to try and provide additional accommodation and do everything we can. But this is an unprecedented situation."

Mr Varadkar said a new reception centre similar to the one in CityWest had been identified but he could not go into detail because contracts have yet to be signed. 

He added that army camps other than Gormanston will be put into action and that the system for pledged accommodation was "too slow".

Mr Varadkar said he did not believe that additional money was needed to entice members of the public to take in Ukrainian refugees. He said most who had already done so did it for humanitarian reasons and not the €400 payment.