Irish Examiner view: Something has to give in refugee crisis

Government does not have enough available property to house the numbers needing it

Ukraine refugees play cards in the evening sun outside the CityWest Hotel where they are being temporrily accomodated. Picture: Moya Nolan

As the situation worsens by the day in Ukraine, with a bloody battle looming to retake Kherson and missiles falling on Kharkiv, Ireland faces its own challenges in managing the fallout from the increasing pressures of a refugee crisis.

The Department of Integration is accommodating more than 58,000 people (42,000 Ukrainian and 16,000 International Protection (IP) refugees) compared with 7,250 at this time last year. With the Citywest campus full Minister Roderic O’Gorman, in a frank and sombre interview, acknowledged that some IP applicants run the risk of being forced to sleep on the streets.