Ireland is not currently in a position to guarantee accommodation to refugees arriving in the country, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.
His remarks come after a Government sub-Cabinet committee met to consider a range of measures aimed at easing the huge pressure on Ireland’s system for providing housing for asylum seekers.
A doubling of the €400 monthly payment to €800 for members of the public offering shared or vacant properties to house Ukrainian refugees is among the measures agreed in principle, but yet to be signed off on by the Coalition.
Mr Varadkar said he expects approval for various measures to be given in the coming days.
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The Fine Gael leader said Ireland has “done very well as a society” in responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis, with more than 55,000 who fled the Russian invasion now in the country.
Mr Varadkar said almost all of the Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Ireland have secured accommodation, that there 12,000 Ukrainian children in schools, 10,000 people in work and 1,000 people studying in Irish universities. However, he said there is a “severe accommodation” shortage.
Mr Varadkar said Ireland will not resile from international obligations or European solidarity, “but we do need to say to people that if you come here we can’t guarantee you accommodation at the moment and indeed for the next couple of weeks”.
He said a memo to Government will be prepared based on the measures discussed by the subcommittee on Monday, and “we should be able to sign them off formally in the next couple of days”.
[ Frontline workers fear consequences of stretching refugee accommodation too thinOpens in new window ]
He listed the measures as refurbishing buildings, bringing in rapid-build housing where possible, and increasing the amount of money given to families who are willing to take people in or provide a house.
He said this latter measure is only part of the solution and there will be a renewed call for people to offer accommodation.
Mr Varadkar also said Ireland will be aligning what it offers with other countries “so that there isn’t much of a differential”.
He said: “This is a far from ideal situation” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is using refugees as a weapon of war”.
Five million people have left Ukraine, he said, with roughly 1 per cent of them having come to Ireland.
Speaking ahead of Cabinet Mr Varadkar said Ireland has provided accommodation this year for roughly 70,000 refugees, a figure including asylum seekers from other countries.
“We’re trying to source additional accommodation.
“But this is a scale of challenge that we’ve never seen anything remotely similar to in Ireland.”
At a later press conference Mr Varadkar said he could no offer an exact figure for how much additional accommodation is expected to come on stream in the coming weeks but said: “There are offers of several thousands of units in the pipeline.”
He said some will require refurbishment and others may not be suitable “so we’re going to do our very best to find as much additional accommodation as we can”.
Mr Varadkar also said: “We’re not going to turn anyone away but it is a very difficult situation... this is likely to get worse before it gets better.
“The war in Ukraine is escalating.”
