Cabinet to approve €20m for refugee accommodation

Sites being examined include Columb Barracks in Mullingar, as well as Thornton Hall and the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin

The memo was given to ministers late on Thursday night and an incorporeal cabinet meeting has been scheduled for 10am on Friday morning

Government ministers are to approve €20m to fund the development of accommodation for refugees at an incorporeal Cabinet meeting today.

The funding is to be made available to the Department of Integration to deliver more than 400 beds to help with the accommodation crisis due to the number of Ukrainians and people seeking international protection coming to Ireland.

The funding will also be used for the refurbishment or purchase of properties and the development of sites across the country, where land is available, according to a source.

The memo was given to ministers late on Thursday night and an incorporeal cabinet meeting has been scheduled for 10am on Friday where the funding is expected to be approved.

Sites being examined include Columb Barracks in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, as well as Thornton Hall and the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.

The funding would also cover the building of some modular housing units, a government source said.

It’s understood €15m is earmarked for three sites for development and 400 beds, while €5m will be spent on feasibility assessments on other sites.

The memo is being brought to Cabinet by the Taoiseach, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman.

The move comes as the State continues to not be in a position to offer accommodation to refugees arriving into the country.

Latest figures show 167 recently arrived asylum seekers now are without State accommodation, nine of which could not be offered a place to stay on Wednesday.

However, since the pause on new arrivals began at Citywest in January, 282 adults who were initially not offered any accommodation were subsequently offered a space.