Martin admits providing accommodation for Ukrainians poses huge challenge

Taoiseach, Micheal Martin has admitted that Ireland is facing a huge challenge when it comes to providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees but he re-iterated Ireland’s determination to honour its international obligations to provide sanctuary for those fleeing the war.

Mr Martin acknowledged the immediate challenge was to provide accommodation for refugees who have been staying in student accommodation but will have to move out to other accommodation when students start returning to university later this month.

“This was always going to be challenging, particularly in respect of the student accommodation and we’re acutely aware of it and there are no easy answers – if you look, close to 48,000 Ukrainians have come into the country,” he said

“And we are potentially looking up to 15,000 other migrants fleeing difficult situations and seeking asylum here and then you add on thousands who are availing of work permits and the population is growing, the challenge is obvious.”

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Mr Martin’s comments came as the Irish Red Cross admitted that it does not know where the 2,500 Ukrainian refugees, who have been housed in student accommodation for the past few months, will be rehoused when they move out within the next 10 days.

Irish Red Cross Secretary-General, Liam O’Dwyer told RTE Radio’s Morning Ireland on Monday that it had long been known that student accommodation would have to be vacated in the autumn ahead of the start of the academic year.

Mr O’Dwyer surmised that the refugees may be moved to hotels, institutional accommodation identified by the Government, sports halls or to the Gormanston military camp in Meath but he said that they did not have any definitive information.

And he said another issue of great concern to the refugees was that they be able to remain in an area where their children are registered to go to school. “There are 7,500 refugee children due to go to school in Ireland in the coming weeks,” he said.

Mr Martin said the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February had caused a huge displacement of people in Ukraine and Europe had not seen a crisis of such magnitude since World War II but Ireland was determined to play its part and take its fair share of Ukrainian refugees.

“The United Nations is very clear that it is the worst humanitarian crisis on the continent of Europe since that period and it has manifested itself in other European states playing their part in terms of facilitating Ukrainians coming to the country,” said Mr Martin at the official opening of a newly constructed Injury Unit in Bantry General Hospital, Co Cork.

“And that is creating challenges along with existing migration patterns and asylum-seeking patterns for our accommodation and we have been generous as a country and we will continue to be but it does create challenges.

“The objective is obviously through the reconfiguration of buildings that have been identified to create extra accommodation capacity and the Dept of Children are working on that basis to secure additional accommodation.

Mr Martin said that Ireland would continue to everything that it possibly to provide proper accommodation for those fleeing the conflict which he believed was “the correct humanitarian response to the terrible war imposed on the Ukrainian people.

“We know that [Russian president Vladimir] Putin has weaponised migration, he has weaponised food and he has weaponised energy and that is creating a crisis in all of those areas across the globe but we can’t buckle and we must stand up against that strategy but that does mean challenges for us, of that there is no doubt.”