Cabinet to discuss impact of housing Ukrainians on upcoming tourism season 

Cabinet expects to hear of an EU-wide approach as it considers how accommodating refugees in hotels affects tourism providers

Ukrainian residents of the Skellig Accommodation Centre/Skellig Star Hotel in Caherciveen celebrate with supporters after it was announced they could remain in the Kerry town. Picture: Alan Landers

The Government is hoping for a more coordinated response across the EU to help with the pressure on accommodating Ukrainian refugees.

The Cabinet committee on Ukraine will meet on Thursday to discuss the impact of housing refugees on tourism in the upcoming summer season.

It’s understood Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman will bring a paper to the meeting to set out the recent High Court case in which Mr Justice Charles Meenan ruled the Government was in breach of its legal obligations in failing to provide accommodation to a teenage asylum seeker from Afghanistan.

Next week, the judge is expected to deal with the costs associated with the case and there are “major concerns” within government about the wider financial implications of a compensation payout and the knock-on implications with hundreds of other potential cases in the pipeline.

A senior government source said fears over the compensation payout will be discussed at the meeting later today and any mitigation measures.

Currently around 580 refugees have not been offered State accommodation on arrival here.

Ministers will also be informed of the ongoing challenge to source accommodation and how many providers are “reluctant” to take international protection (IP) applicants. The use of student accommodation will soon come into play which will help the system.

The meeting is expected to hear there will be a far more coordinated response across the EU in terms of the number of Ukrainians travelling to countries for refuge. Options to support Ukrainians to go home when the time is right and to rebuild Ukraine will also be discussed.

However, officials are aware this will be some time in the future.

Temporary protection for Ukrainians has already been extended in Ireland by 12 months to March 2024 but it’s expected this could be extended further across the EU if the war does not end.

Tourism Minister Catherine Martin is to present a paper at the meeting on the impact the loss of beds in hotels and other providers will have on tourism.

Overall 28% of all Fáilte Ireland registered tourism bed stock is contracted to the State and while accommodation providers generally will trade well in 2023, there is “concern” regarding the potential downstream impacts on other core tourism businesses.

Justice Minister Simon Harris will tell the meeting there has been a 50% drop in IP applications between January and April.

Meanwhile, the Department of Integration has confirmed a number of Ukrainians can stay at a hotel in Caherciveen. There had been a public outcry over the weekend over plans to move some 80 Ukrainians, including 10 school-going children, from the Skellig Accommodation Centre, and replace them with international protection applicants.

Some Ukrainians will be moved out but to alternative accommodation in the town while others who wish to move, will go to Tralee.

The hotel will now be a “mixed-use” facility. Asylum seekers will move in, in place of the Ukrainians who move out.

“The Skellig Star applied for and was successful in tendering to provide International Protection accommodation and these moves are necessary in order to maximise all available accommodation for IP applicants, given the severe shortage currently,” a spokesperson for the department said.

“The hotel will now be used as a mixed use facility to accommodate international protection applicant families and beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs).”