Cabinet to consider options for housing Ukrainian refugees

Proposals to be addressed tomorrow likely to include further building of modular homes on State-owned sites

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is expected to bring proposals on the eviction ban to Cabinet.

The Department of Taoiseach is to bring proposals to Cabinet tomorrow to address challenges in housing refugees. 

Government leaders last Thursday met as part of the Cabinet sub-committee on Ukraine and it is understood that a number of proposals will be made tomorrow. 

It is likely that these will include further building of modular homes on State-owned sites, with the Thornton Hall site in North Dublin — which had been earmarked for a new prison — one such area under consideration. The site is serviced with water and electricity at present, but a senior source said that there are "complications" around the land.

Sources said that the exit of hotels from contracts to house both international protection applicants and those from Ukraine showed the need for a medium-term response to housing refugees.

Separately, no decision has been made on an extension of the eviction ban.

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is expected to bring proposals on the ban, which expires on March 31, to Cabinet in the coming weeks, but Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said that no decision has been made one way or the other.

Government sources have said that a decision will be made before St Patrick's Day. However, in recent days senior ministers have indicated that the ban will not be extended, with one source arguing that it may not be working as intended.

Figures released on Friday show there were 11,754 people homeless in January, a new record.

Ms Humphreys told RTÉ's The Week In Politics that Mr O'Brien was consulting with the Attorney General on the issue but said that the ban "hadn't worked".

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said the eviction ban 'hadn't worked'. Picture: PA 

“Government hasn’t made a decision yet on the eviction ban, and Minister O’Brien is consulting with the Attorney General, and it is his plan to bring a proposal to Cabinet in the next number of weeks,” she said.

“But I think the issue here, and it always has been the issue, is supply, and it’s encouraging to see that in 2022, we have almost 30,000 new houses on stream, and that’s a 45% increase on the previous year.”

Ms Humphreys said that a balance needed to be found to keep landlords in the market and to protect renters.

Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin said that the ban was not a solution in itself, but that it would allow the Government "breathing space".

“Government must use that time to take the emergency action needed to address this crisis,” he said.