Daniel McConnell: Ukrainian crisis deserves an open and honest conversation

Minister Roderic O’Gorman's admission that hotels will have to be part of the solution to housing refugees will bring a degree of alarm.

In Leinster House, at the bottom of the main grand steps that lead to the entrance to the Dáil chamber are a set of couches.

Situated in the heart of the historic house, these couches are a favourite spot for this and other political correspondents to entrap a TD or minister of choice for a comment or a chat.

Given their central location, when we loiter with intent, it is hard to avoid us.

On Wednesday evening, a senior minister found himself ensnared as he was walking by a small gaggle of hacks.

The topic of choice was Ukraine and just how did the State find itself turning away up to 80 refugees due to a lack of beds.

The minister in question was clear. This is not a money problem.

Money will not be the problem into the New Year when another 10,000-15,000 will be here.

The problem he said bluntly, is the potential disruption to life up and down the country in the coming months.

The threat to social cohesion as he called it will be the greatest challenge.

What has surfaced in recent weeks is an increased question mark about Ireland’s ability and capacity to honour its pledge to house those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

And more alarming is the reaction in some quarters to people who have dared to ask legitimate questions about our readiness to cope.

Very few of us would argue with the intent of doing all we can to play our part in hosting those fleeing a war, but such an influx of people under any circumstances in such a short space of time will always present difficulties.

TDs, and particularly those in rural constituencies are increasingly warning of rising tensions in their area as the presence of migrants is leading to some resentment building, they say.

They have argued that with hotels full of refugees, the normal tourism trade which has sustained towns all over Ireland is absent. 

Restaurants and bars are empty. Shops are down in terms of trade. People are getting angry, we are told.

We know that Mayo TD Michael Ring gave voice to his concerns at a recent Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting and he is not alone in his views.

At Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, a number of TDs expressed their concern about the capacity of the country to cope.

Clare TD Cathal Crowe said some counties, particularly in the mid-west have “reached capacity” in terms of education places and healthcare services.

“I think it is appropriate to say we have reached capacity in terms of education and healthcare in some counties. We need to be honest, we have exceeded capacity in the mid-west,” he told the meeting.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin agreed that some areas are nearing their limits but said Ireland must stand ready to help.

Kilkenny TD John McGuinness also spoke up saying ministers need to be alert to those rising tensions and warned colleagues: “You would be wrong to ignore what people are saying to us, you give houses for Ukraine but I am on the housing list. I don’t want to feed into this narrative but we have to be very, very careful.” The narrative McGuinness was talking about was an anti-migrant one and one which others present at the meeting said would lead to a rise in support for racist hard-right groups.

John Lahart, the Dublin South West TD, warned that such talk of division would be seized upon by the Russian ambassador and exploited in a bid to weaken Western support for Ukraine’s defence.

We also know such fears about the impact of the arrival of almost 60,000 refugees are even being discussed at the top levels of Government.

Concern is growing within Cabinet that the policy of housing tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in hotels will impact tourism and the hospitality sector early next year.

Housing crisis

As the Government struggles to accommodate the thousands of Ukrainians forced to flee the war, two senior Cabinet sources confirmed to my colleague Ciara Phelan that discussions have taken place about the impact on pubs and restaurants, particularly in tourist hotspots, in the spring and summer of next year unless other suitable accommodation is found.

The matter has been raised at the Cabinet sub-committee on Ukraine, attended by senior ministers.

But as laudable as our efforts to date have been, it is clear the approach being taken by Government is cracking and there are legitimate questions being asked about Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s capacity to handle the scenario.

His less-than-convincing performance on Primetime on Tuesday night illustrated clearly he is allowing the situation run away from him and needs assistance.

The wisdom of having his department take the lead on this situation is proving not to be very wise and calls for a more centralised approach are merited.

But in classic government style, there is a considerable reluctance of other departments to weigh in at a time of crisis and as senior Government figures revealed to me, there is a lot of “passing the buck” by departments who prefer to remain siloed away and not get their hands dirty.

O’Gorman’s admission that hotels will have to be part of the medium to long-term solution of housing refugees will bring a degree of alarm as they are not and were never suitable for long-term stays, especially for children.

Is anyone willing to say what happened last weekend was acceptable? Of course, it wasn’t.

The meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on Monday led to the full Cabinet signing off on a suite of new measures yesterday but the fundamental point is that the State has failed to adequately prepare for this eventuality.

Bluntly locating people into hotels without proper consultation or liaison with them or the local community has bred suspicions and fears.

Look at how the Killarney episode was mishandled.

Poor communication fuelled anger and resentment.

The Government has placed itself on the horns of a dilemma.

Proposals to lessen the quality of support offered to those currently living in hotels is a delicate situation to manage.

These people who have fled from Ukraine, up to 10,000 of them are working, are to be asked to pay for their food once current contracts expire.

This raises its own challenges and a great deal of effort, resources and care must be put in place to ensure that cohesion is not tested beyond breaking point.

We must be allowed to discuss this and people’s genuine and legitimate concerns must be addressed.

The next year is likely to be one of great challenge for Ireland with winter coming and Putin stepping up his attempts to drive people out of Ukraine.

Ireland has done spectacularly well in its efforts to help those in need and as a country, we can be proud of our generosity and support.

The Government has repeatedly refused to set a cap on the number of who we can take, emphasising that this is a war effort. That is a laudable and honourable pledge. We just need to be open and honest about what that challenge means.