Sir, – The Government reports that only 1,200 of our 33,000 recent Ukrainian arrivals have been accommodated through pledges to date.
I understand the Government has booked 13,000 hotel rooms. Why have the generous offers of 20,000-plus pledges not been taken up? To date, a volunteer group, Helping Irish Hosts, has matched over 260 pledges with Ukrainian families. The registration and Garda vetting system is clearly not working. Families like mine who have arranged our own private hosting are being left in limbo as no state body or NGO appears interested in supporting us to register and or access supports. Who is being held to account for this?
Hotels are not suitable long-term solutions. Shared accommodation pledges are the norm in Europe. Only Ireland seems to using hotels in this manner, and risks institutionalising large numbers of Ukrainians.
Pledges also risk being withdrawn in even greater numbers while the state system fails to match Ukrainian families with hosts. There has to be a better way. – Yours, etc,
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LIAM O’SULLIVAN,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
