Payment for people housing Ukrainian refugees being examined, Taoiseach says

The Taoiseach has asked senior ministers to look at options to pay those who make properties available for use for Ukrainian refugees.

Speaking before an event on the shared island organised by the think tank TASC on Thursday evening, Micheál Martin said he had spoken with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys on the matter.

He said providing payments was not a “money issue”, adding: “I spoke this morning to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Social Protection in particular, to look at various options,” he said.

“There are issues that would have to be sorted out, but in the first instance, what needs to happen is those who have pledged (accommodation) we need to get through that process, perhaps more quickly - it’s more time consuming on all involved,” he said.

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Asked if the Government would consider capping the number of arrivals, he said “we’re not looking at that right now, but it’s going to be very challenging, and we’ll see how this pans out.” Asked if he would rule out putting a cap on arrivals, he then said that was not under consideration “at all”.

“We’re looking at looking after people as they come into the country. But it means new options and different options, given that we’ve exhausted a lot of facilities already, but we’re consistently working at expanding our capacities.”

He said Russian president Vladimir Putin sees migration as a "weapon" to create pressure on European countries.

"That explains the levelling of residential areas in Ukraine which had no military installations, (in a) very targeted, horrible strategy," he said.

The Taoiseach said Putin had created an energy crisis and is “creating potentially a famine crisis” with attacks on grain silos and curtailing the export of Ukrainian grain, which he said will create issues “downstream”.

He said the Government is examining what can be constructed to accommodate refugees, but also what buildings could be reconfigured to make them suitable for refugees - and that this issue was being examined by a group of former local authority public servants working under the aegis of Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien.