Irish Examiner view: We need inventive thinking on refugee housing crisis

Tented accommodation is not acceptable but could log cabins be a solution?

Millstreet Ukrainian refugee accommodation. Picture supplied by Government Information Services

While those fleeing war in Ukraine said they were grateful for a quiet place to sleep, it was still unsettling to see them spend the night on the floor of the old terminal building at Dublin Airport.

Some 250 refugees, about half of them women and children fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, had no other option as the State had run out of places to house them. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said tented accommodation will open at Gormanston Army Camp in Meath from Monday, while ministers met on Thursday to review policies and processes.

The last time Ireland had to cope with an influx of refugees on anything approaching such a scale was in the 1970s when tens of thousands of people fled violence in the North during the Troubles.

Even then, the largest influx of people seeking refuge did not exceed 10,000. According to a Government memo, a total of 9,800 refugees came during July and August in 1972.

By contrast, since February, some 40,678 people fleeing Ukraine have arrived here looking for sanctuary, with more than 1,400 of those coming last week.

Currently, there are 4,250 student accommodation places being used across the country for Ukrainians arriving here. When students return, it poses a further problem.

Heartening welcome

Almost without exception, those arriving here have been made to feel welcome. It has been heartening to see official Ireland reach out to the victims of war in a way that it failed to do during the Second World War.

Our Government’s response, for example, could not contrast more starkly with Britain’s Rwanda deportation policy. Its stated aims — to stop people-smuggling practices and boost Rwandan development — revealed the depth of cynicism at the heart of former Tory leader Boris Johnson’s government.

But more pressing than that, the measure has now increased numbers coming here.

The scale of the challenge is daunting but, as Fiona Hurley of the Irish Refugee Council has said, what is needed now is a “whole-of-Government” response and a long-term plan. 

She also highlighted ongoing delays in matching Ukrainian refugees with offers of accommodation from the public. That has to be rectified as quickly as possible.

It is unconscionable to think a family will be living in a tent when there is an outstanding offer of a room in a family home.

New ways of thinking

That is not to underestimate the logistical and other difficulties ahead but, just as the Covid pandemic forced us into new ways of thinking, let us hope that war in Europe will do the same.

Perhaps we might even get some inspiration from the speed with which many people adapted to working from home.

Those who had the wherewithal to install log cabins in their back yards said they were relatively cheap, quickly erected, and of good quality. Could rapidly-built wooden homes provide part of the answer? 

Whatever the road ahead, flippant hashtags such as ‘Ireland is full’ and other comments about the need to tackle our own housing crisis will do nothing to help.