Army barracks may be used to house Ukrainian refugees

The Government is looking at using army barracks in Westmeath, Kerry, Wicklow and other locations to provide emergency accommodation to house Ukrainian refugees at short notice.

The Department of Integration, which is co-ordinating the State’s response to help refugees, is considering the possibility of providing up to 500 beds for refugees at the barracks in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee, Co Kerry and Kilbride training camp in Co Wicklow.

The Mullingar barracks could provide the bulk of this accommodation, an estimated 280, though there are concerns that this option may only provide enough accommodation for arrivals over a number of days rather than weeks given the continuing flow of Ukrainian arrivals.

Other sites, including barracks in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Cavan and Longford, are also being assessed as possible locations for refugees under plans being examined by the Government.

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Land around barracks is also being considered for accommodation.

The Department of Integration’s secretary general, Kevin McCarthy, is expected to tell the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that the refugee crisis is putting “extreme pressure” on resources.

He will outline how there was a 12 per cent underspend in the 2021 Budget of €128 million for accommodation for people seeking international protection.

Covid-19 pandemic restrictions on international travel resulted in lower than anticipated arrivals.

However, spending on international protection accommodation began to rebound at the end of 2021 as restrictions eased.

Mr McCarthy last addressed the PAC in June when he spoke of the significant impact that the war in Ukraine has had on the work of his Department and he will tell TDs on Thursday that this has “not abated” in the meantime.

He will say that the Department’s role in the humanitarian response to the needs of Ukrainians arriving here “continues to pose very major challenges and has involved a significant diversion and allocation of staffing resources.”

His opening statement adds: “The parallel significant increase in numbers of applicants for international protection in 2022 has also placed extreme pressure on resources.”

He said the requirements of the response to the refugee situation including the use of various forms of emergency accommodation “has had and will continue to have a significant impact on costs in 2022 and beyond”.

There are immediate concerns within Government about accommodation capacity given the likely pressure on system from Ukrainians arriving into the country this weekend.

More than 40 Ukrainian refugees were left without accommodation over the weekend and had to sleep in Dublin Airport as the Citywest transit hub in west Dublin had reached capacity. A number were subsequently accommodated in a sports hall.

“We were provided with housing, food, access to bathrooms, the possibility of washing and hot meals,” said Sergey Chudaev, speaking on behalf of the refugees.

“The conditions are as comfortable as possible especially after spending the night at the airport. Our group of refugees is very grateful to everyone who helps us and especially the Ukrainian and Irish governments.

“For now we have urgent issues with documents, warm clothes, work and a permanent place of residence.”

There are particular difficulties in a number of regions with Donegal has suspended all placements of Ukrainian refugees in the county.

The council’s Ukrainian accommodation team have told homeowners offering accommodation that “we are not contracting any additional properties in Donegal due to the impact that this is having on resources in the county.”

Donegal County Council chairman Cllr Liam Blaney said the county has taken in 5,000 Ukrainian refugees and there needed to be an analysis done of how the presence of so many refugees in the county is affecting services.

Cllr Blaney said councillors in the Letterkenny municipal area had voted in favour of accepting no more refugees for the time-being.

“All the services are under pressure. The Government need to think about how they are distributing refugees and make sure they are distributed equally depending on the population,” he said.

Since the war began in February, more than 58,000 people, including 42,000 Ukrainians and 16,000 people seeking international protection, have been provided with State accommodation.

The Government is estimating a shortfall of 15,000 places by the end of the year based on a projected 73,000 Ukrainians being in the country with 90 per cent of these requiring housing.

Among the accommodation options being considered are looking at larger-scale buildings such as office buildings and even an equestrian centre.

Based on the list of larger properties being considered by the Department of Integration, there could be 4,000 beds within these larger buildings under plans being considered.

The department is working on expanding plans to provide 500 modular housing units accommodating up to 2,000 people in a memo to be put before Government.

It is believed within Government that the memo on measures aimed at easing the refugee crisis could be ready for a possible incorporeal Cabinet meeting on Friday.

The next full Cabinet meeting is not due to happen until next Wednesday and sources said the intention was to get proposals approved sooner.

The Department of Taoiseach issued another call-out to departments on Wednesday seeking details of larger State-owned buildings that could be issued, repeating a call made at the end of last week.

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman met Ukrainian ambassador Larysa Gerasko on Tuesday to discuss how to communicate to Ukrainians considering travelling to Ireland the limited availability of accommodation and how to be upfront about the fact that there is no guarantee of accommodation.

Mr O’Gorman and Ms Gerasko also discussed the pressure on refugee movements from increased Russian attacks on Ukraine and Moscow’s “weaponising” of the winter and refugee movements by attacking power plants and disrupting energy and heating supplies in the country.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbouring country has already displaced 6.2 million people within Ukraine and caused a further 7.7 million to flee the country for Europe as refugees.

UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has said there is a possibility of a further two million people being displaced within Ukraine and a further two million people fleeing the country under a worst-case scenario of a prolonged, escalated war and the Ukrainian winter forcing more people to leave the country.