Rory Hearne: There are enough vacant properties to house both refugees and homeless people

If the Government treats housing as an emergency, there will be plenty of places for both refugees and homeless people to live in

Sasha Moskalu from the Bukovyna region of Ukraine with her two-year-old daughter Sofia and her six-year-old son Danic take shelter near a tent shortly after crossing into Romania fleeing the conflict from Ukraine. Picture: Renata Brito/AP

Ukranian children will be going to school from tents and warehouses in the coming weeks. Large arenas at Millstreet, Co Cork, and tents for 320 people at Gormanston Camp in Meath are being prepared.

It is unacceptable that refugees, scarred from war, are put into such accommodation when there are over 150,000 vacant homes across the country. It is wrong to traumatise these children and families even further. They need a home so they have the space to grieve and process what they have gone through, and to give them hope for a future in Ireland.