Minister of State for Migration Colm Brophy has defended the Government’s plans to withdraw tourist and commercial accommodation currently housing up to 16,000 people from Ukraine. Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Brophy said the Cabinet was looking at putting in place “a sustainable transition from what was something that was introduced at the start of the war, which was temporary protection.
“And temporary protection, as its name implies, is temporary in nature,” Brophy said. “We want to recognise how we can best put in place the structures to deal with this on a sustained basis in the future.”
The Government’s plans were in line with those of the Ukrainian government, which had been clear “from day one” that it wanted its citizens to be able to return home.
“They’re looking at pilot programmes, which we would like to be involved in, to help Ukrainians return, even when the war is still going on. And by the way, 1.2 million Ukrainians have already returned from Europe to Ukraine.
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“What we’re actually looking at is moving away, and we believe this is correct, from commercial providers of accommodation to enabling a situation where Ukrainians are providing their own accommodation.” It was important to bear in mind, he said, that 50 per cent of Ukrainians did not take up the offer of free accommodation in cases where their accommodation had closed down.
“They actually move into their own accommodation and they want to,” Brophy said. “And most importantly, we’ll still be providing the 30 days for Ukrainians arriving into the country, but, believe it or not, 22 per cent only availed of even that 30 days when they arrived in the last month.
“So we’re seeing, quite clearly, Ukrainians are very resilient people. They want to come here – and they’re choosing to come to Ireland in very large numbers compared to other European countries – and they want to actually participate and be involved.”
The Government was going to work to ensure there was a programme in place for people moving out of State-provided accommodation. It would be a “sustainable transition”, it would not be a “cliff-edge” situation, he said.
Vulnerable Ukrainians would continue to be supported by the State. “Vulnerable people will not be left alone.”
He said it was important for there to be equality across the board in terms of how the State was accommodating people. “What we are doing is we’re ensuring that there’s an equal access to the market for everybody, and what we believe is that it is possible to do that,” Brophy said.
[ Ukraine’s grandfathers go to war as young are spared to rebuild the nationOpens in new window ]
“We’re trying to actually build long-term paths for Ukrainian people to remain, if they want to, as part of Ireland and Irish communities, and we’re also trying to facilitate those Ukrainians who want to go home. We’re also trying to ensure we’re protecting the vulnerable. That’s not destruction, that’s actually enhancing the integration of Ukrainians with Ireland.”
