I welcome and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, for coming to the House.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
State Bodies
I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with it. The matter relates to the Government's plans for making new temporary appointments to the board of An Bord Pleanála. I hope the Minister of State will outline what those plans are and make a statement on them.
None of us needs a lesson on An Bord Pleanála and the lack of confidence in the board among many members of the public. I acknowledge, as I have done all along, that there is a place for An Bord Pleanála. It needs to be restructured and reconstituted, and needs greater focus and clarity. Above all, it needs to communicate its decisions in a timely manner and to explain in greater detail decisions to overturn its inspectors' decisions or recommendations. This is presenting difficulties for members of the public who do not quite understand the dynamic between the inspectors and the board itself. It creates a feeling that there is a tension there and they cannot understand it. There has to be such a tension and I accept that the board has to take decisions.
I do not subscribe to the idea of scrapping An Bord Pleanála. I support its work and acknowledge there are great people in it doing their best. There are, however, challenges and difficulties. I hope An Bord Pleanála can bounce back and build a strong, confident relationship with the people it represents and rebuild the professionalism it has shown in the past in the area of planning and determining planning appeals.
I understand from media reports that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will appoint temporary members to fill a number of vacancies on the board. I also understand the board needs its full complement of board members because while there are ongoing investigations, the board still has to do its work. The chairman needs to have a full board and its members need to work together constructively. I understand there are only six board members still in place in the crisis-hit planning authority. As I said, An Bord Pleanála is the subject of ongoing investigation and it would not be appropriate for the Minister of State or me to comment on the series of investigations. Clearly, there will be structural reform. We need a full complement of board members and we need to rebuild confidence in it.
I am conscious that there needs to be greater clarity about the Minister's intentions. Will all the new board members be ministerial appointees? Will the Minister seek public servants to fill the temporary positions? What is temporary? I presume it is for a period of up to 12 months because that is the time it will take to put in place the new structures. Is the Minister of State in a position to indicate whether these or future appointments will be filled by the Public Appointments Service? That is an open and transparent way to do this and it is particularly important. I accept that there is chronic understaffing and there are rushed decisions and that the board is not always in a position to determine decisions within the specified timeframe, which is an issue. In essence, I am asking what the Minister's short-term plans are for filling the current vacancies on the board and what his long-term plans are for bringing in people to serve on the board.
I will finish on this point. There is a case for allowing the representative bodies, the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, and the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, not necessarily to nominate members to the board but to nominate persons who could be considered by an independent appointments commission. There is a way to move away from having ministerial appointments to the board. While the Minister could make recommendations and put forward names, ultimately there has to be an independent system for making appointments to the new board.
I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments on the necessity of An Bord Pleanála. He and I interact regularly on the issue of public participation in our planning system. He feels it is vitally important that we have a robust planning system in which members of the public can have confidence and in which they have a right to participate on the basis of parity. I commend the Senator on that.
On 4 October, following Government approval, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, published an action plan for An Bord Pleanála which was informed by phase 1 of the review by the Office of the Planning Regulator of certain systems and procedures used by An Bord Pleanála. The action plan outlines several measures relating to the board appointment process, structure, capacity and operations within An Bord Pleanála. Its intention is to underpin public confidence in the efficacy and ability of An Bord Pleanála to decide cases in a timely manner while supporting the values of independence, impartiality and integrity. A number of the proposed actions contained in the action plan require legislative underpinning. Some of these will be pursued as part of the review of the planning legislation currently being led by the Attorney General but other measures including a new regime of recruitment for appointments to An Bord Pleanála require more immediate legislative underpinning and will be addressed in the planning, development and foreshore (amendment) Bill 2022, the general scheme of which will be published shortly.
The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, currently provides for the board of An Bord Pleanála to consist of a chairperson appointed by the Government and nine ordinary members appointed by the Minister. Action 10 of the action plan specifically relates to the new regime of recruitment for board appointments to An Bord Pleanála. The aforementioned legislation which received Government approval for priority drafting on 4 October 2022 will remove the nominating bodies system for board appointments to An Bord Pleanála and replace it with an open competition process to recruit suitably qualified candidates with the necessary range of skill sets to serve on the board. As an interim measure, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is also advancing the recruitment of a board member with environmental expertise, particularly in relation to marine matters under section 106(1)(e) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in a manner similar to the proposed new arrangements outlined in the action plan. In addition, a number of temporary appointments will be made in line with the provisions of the current Act. Under the new board, members are recruited under the new arrangements.
As detailed in action 13 of the action plan, it is the intention that board membership should be increased as part of the new, more immediate legislation to allow for new functions and sufficient rotation of members across different classes of files.
The Senator put forward a proposal about LAMA and the AILG. As the Minister outlines it is an open process and it is important to have that environmental, ecological and water expertise in An Bord Pleanála. Given the broad range of legislation and the broad range of environmental climate considerations that now have to be taken into account, it is a vitally important part of it, but the Minister is committed to ensuring An Bord Pleanála is fit for purpose and is able to serve the planning interests of the country well and serve the broader community and the ambitions of the State in respect of proper spatial planning. That is something we all want to achieve.
The Minister of State is absolutely correct as regards maritime issues. We have seen maritime legislation and the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and all of the bits of legislation around that. That is an important complement to any new board. The heavy emphasis on environmental issues is important because many of those subsequently become challenges and are referred for judicial review. Planning should not be determined by judicial review. I understand why it goes down that road, but we need a better, more robust system. I fully acknowledge the importance of maritime and environmental expertise on the board but it is important that local government can contribute in some way. It does not necessarily have to have the final say but that it can contribute. I would like to think this new legislation will not exclude former city or county councillors. They bring a certain amount of expertise. That is something we can tease out in the legislation. I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive report.
I thank the Senator for his positive contribution and that is certainly something I can take to the Minister. We have to hugely value the role of any expertise many former elected members have brought to local government over many years. They have expertise in formulating development plans and setting the agenda at local level for how our communities are planned. While An Bord Pleanála has been through an incredibly challenging time, we see the positive outcomes of this report and the intent of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to address this issue and deal with it. He has acted swiftly and decisively. We need a board that is fit for purpose, able to meet the broader environmental climate challenges but can also plan this country in a sustainable way that is future-proofed for future generations.
Planning Issues
The next Commencement matter is from Senator Paul Daly – the need for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to consider amending section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to allow for changes to conditions for the extension of planning permissions for one-off rural housing.
I welcome and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for coming in to take this Commencement matter.
I will read the Commencement matter again to highlight some issues in it. It is to request that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage would relax the conditions for the extension of planning permission for one-off housing under section 42(1)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in light of delays caused by Covid and now the inflation in construction costs, which could result in many planning permissions granted in 2018 expiring in 2023 with parties being unable to commence construction in the time period.
I specifically included one-off housing because if my request were to be successful, the last thing I or anyone would want is a carte blanche extension. We are all aware that people are reputedly hoarding development sites and this might give them a window to extend that period of hoarding. I am specifically asking that consideration be given for people who had planning permission for one-off housing.
The reason for the request is that a number of people have contacted me with quite genuine reasons they are unlikely to be able to commence construction before their planning permission expires. For example, people whose banks reneged on their mortgage when they went on the employment wage subsidy scheme and they ended back at square 1. Some people could not get builders because of the lockdown. Two years were basically lost in every sphere of life and some people are still in the situation of having Covid-related health issues, be it long-Covid or whatever. It has put a stall to their gallop, to coin a phrase. They may get started but at the moment the conditions state they must have a reasonable amount of work done and in most cases councils will insist that is up to wall plate level. This is unlikely to happen before their planning expires in 2023.
Provisions were made during Covid for planning permissions that were granted during that period of time and that expires at the end of 2023. It is well worth considering or looking at this again. As I have said, I am not requesting it be done in a carte blanche fashion. If it were to happen, I would include conditions that people have to apply and give plausible reasons as to why they could not proceed for the council to examine on a case-by-case basis. It is unfair where people have genuine Covid related reasons and indeed when we got out of Covid we entered the construction inflation period which again is a hindrance to many people. People have genuine reasons for not being able to proceed, for maybe not being able to commence on time, but they still genuinely intend to go ahead. If they were allowed to make a case, without being required to have commenced and to have reached a specific level with their house, it would be of benefit to the one-off housing market in rural Ireland. I stress again, as I did at the outset, I specifically made this request about one-off housing. The last thing I want to start is a process from which people who are hoarding larger development sites benefit.
The duration of a planning permission is generally set at five years, but the planning authority may grant shorter or longer durations with a maximum duration of ten years available for residential development, for example. Section 42 of the Planning and Development Act enables a planning authority to extend the initial duration of a planning permission, providing certain conditions are met.
A package of measures was introduced in September 2021 to amend section 42 and related provisions in the Planning and Development Act regulations. This included, among other things, a new temporary provision in section 42(1B) which was introduced in response to construction delays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, to provide for a further extension of duration for planning permission by an additional period of up to two years or until 31 December 2023, whichever first occurs, subject to certain requirements being met. Section 28(1) of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 was commenced. This provision deleted section 42(1)(a)(ii) of the Planning and Development Act. This removes the possibility of an extension of duration for uncommenced development or development where substantial work has not been carried out.
Section 42(8) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was introduced to provide that a planning authority shall not extend the appropriate period of a planning permission if an environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment is required in relation to the proposed extension. As such, a planning authority can only grant an extension of duration where it is satisfied that the development has commenced; substantial works have been completed; the development will be completed in a reasonable time; and the environmental impact assessment and appropriate assessment are not required for the proposed extension.
Cognisant of the recent impacts of Covid-19 on the construction industry, section 42(1B) provides, on a temporary basis, for further extensions in respect of planning permissions which have already availed of an extension in duration by up to an additional two years or until 31 December 2023, whichever occurs first. This will facilitate the completion of developments already commenced and with substantial works carried out, which were delayed or interrupted due to the impacts of Covid-19 on construction activity. This further extension period takes into account the restrictions on construction and disruptions in logistics, supply chains, etc., as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While there may be legitimate reasons that a holder of a planning permission may not have commenced or carried out substantial works under that planning permission, to allow for an extension or further extension of duration beyond their initial duration of five years, or possibly more, in such circumstances would conflict with the Department's objective to expedite the activation of planning permissions and the completion of developments that have substantial work already carried out, particularly with respect to delivery of housing.
Any interventions in this area must have a positive effect on development and must incentivise holders of a planning permission to activate and complete planning permissions to the greatest extent possible, as soon as possible, particularly with respect to housing developments. Accordingly, it is not considered appropriate to provide for extensions of duration of planning permissions for developments that have not been commenced or have not been substantially completed within the initial duration of their planning permission.
The Department is mindful that construction costs have risen considerably over recent years, as the Senator has pointed out. Extensive mitigation measures have been implemented in collaboration with other Departments and agencies to address the increasing cost by, inter alia, increasing efficiency and innovation, including the advancement of modern methods of construction, MMC; a national demonstration park; a construction technology centre; the Built to Innovate campaign; and the progression of a residential construction cost study. I hope this response is of some use in answering the question the Senator put to me.
The response was informative but not very positive in respect of my query. I ask the Minister of State again if this matter could be addressed. I am not looking for extensions to planning permissions across the board. We are all aware of the two years we just had. People are trying to get back to normality. While a five-year window may sound like a long time, it becomes a very narrow window when the two years of the pandemic are subtracted, especially in cases where people's circumstances have changed. There is a case for giving consideration to special circumstances, on a case-by-case basis, through an application process with criteria for genuine people. I appreciate the urgency involved and the reasons the legislation seeks to expedite the activation of planning. However, letting planning go because people cannot commence construction, for genuine reasons, will possibly result in the loss of a house or houses. I would appreciate if this matter could be considered from a human perspective.
I welcome a group of young boys and girls to the Chamber. I am not sure what school they are from. It is great to see them engaging with politics at such a young age. Some of them might be sitting here in a few decades' time. I extend a warm welcome to them.
They are from Stepaside. It is great to have them here.
I thank the Senator. My response probably did not give him much comfort in relation to the individuals he represents. I urge them to engage, on a case-by-case basis, with their local authority planners. That is the point of contact. The Department does not have plans to introduce further legislation to extend planning permission. It is open to individuals who cannot avail of an extension of duration to reapply for planning permission. I have tremendous sympathy for anyone who has been caught in that cycle or whose banks have rescinded mortgages because of circumstances or due to Covid-19. It is critically important that they engage and I hope they will be able to advance plans for their homes.
General Practitioner Services
I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, to the Chamber.
I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to be here. She and I attended a meeting on Monday evening in the Shearwater Hotel at which GPs from the Ballinasloe and south-east Galway area came together. They came from group practices, including the Marina House and Dunlo medical centres, which are well known in Ballinasloe town. These cover a huge area, not only of County Galway but also of south County Roscommon because we are right on the county boundary. It includes places like Taghmaconnell, Moore, Aughrim and Clontuskert. We also had GPs representing single practices, including Dr. Mary Murphy from Laurencetown health centre, Dr. Ranga from the Eyrecourt medical centre and Dr. Ferguson from Kiltormer health centre. Kilconnell, where there is a locum and no GP, was also represented.
As the Minister of State will be aware, I and other public representative have raised this matter for the past number of years. The network of GPs in the area provides an excellent service 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. They do night-time and weekend cover. These GPs are suffering, as are patients and families in the region. We have a crisis because people cannot access Westdoc supports. Westdoc, which is co-funded by the HSE, can provide cover and support GP networks all around the county. There are challenging areas, including east and south-east Galway. Portumna, which is in the Minister of State's area, is a big challenge, as is Moycullen. These are areas of the west that face a huge challenge in recruitment and retention. How on earth can we attract quality GPs to start a life, live in our region and perform an invaluable service to our community? The GP is the first point of call for people getting health checks, X-rays or blood tests or dealing with a family crisis. How is the State supporting the GP network in east and south-east Galway? How are we going to recruit? The HSE had to bring a locum into Kilconnell and there are other locums because there are about ten vacancies in the west. These locums are costing approximately €180,000 each.
All of the local public representatives attended the meeting on Monday, as did HSE representatives from Community Healthcare West. I am grateful they were able to attend. They highlighted that the cost of a locum in Kiltormer was €180,000 and that the overall cost of cover with Westdoc was roughly €528,000. The HSE group in the area submitted requests last year and the year before that but no funding is arriving and none has been allocated. GPs in the area are at crisis point. We have heard stories, as has the Minister of State, of GPs working for 40 hours straight. They then have to get into a car and travel. This is putting doctors and patients at risk. There is no EU working time directive for GPs. We need to protect our GPs and ensure they have a good work-life balance. I know the Minister of State has been supportive on this issue. She spoke with the GPs who attended, including Dr. Genevieve Flynn and Dr. Jennings, women who are working in our region. What about bringing in young GPs, including young women GPs with families?
How on earth are young GPs, GPs with families, going to support doing a one-in-eight rota and trying to work 13 days in a row? These are doctors who have not taken a break since January and are afraid to bring locums in because, if they do, the locums will not provide the same level of service as they do and how are they going to be responsible for their community? There is a commitment and a diligence to patients in our local area.
I have written a letter to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. I know the Minister of State has mentioned we might potentially be able to hold a meeting. This is something I have raised over recent years, as have GPs, but we need a solution. Is this going to come out of the winter service plan or from the budget that has been allocated for GP visit cards, where it has been stated there is extra budget for GPs and the GP network? We have expanded the GP cards now to people under the median income from April of next year. Where are the funds with which we can support our GPs right now? I do not want to lose any more GPs in my region and I am responsible for that Ballinasloe to south-east Galway area.
I am also responsible for the people of south-east Galway, and the Senator is quite right. We attended that meeting the other night and it is important to share here that a selection of GPs from right across the Ballinasloe, Kilconnell, Kiltormer, Eyrecourt, Lawrencetown area were in attendance. There was one outlier, a Dr. Fahey, who came with me came from Portumna to attend. The whole purpose of the meeting was to ensure the creation of a cell in what I would deem technically the Ballinasloe area and to highlight the need for this. As the Senator can see from the response from the Department, no additional funding has been approved to this request. The €528,000 that was sought from the HSE for the creation of this cell has not been approved under the budgetary allocation. I could come to the House and give a very fluffy answer, skirt around the edges and not give it exactly as it is. As it is, no funding in budget 2023 has been allocated for the creation of a new cell in the proposal that has been forwarded by the HSE.
What has been awarded is €2.5 million to the HSE in the west to ensure the continuation of the HSE Westdoc practices currently in operation. That is €2.5 million that is to go all the way across an area that covers CHO 2, which we discussed at length the other night. We saw how much investment was made in 2021 and 2022, but now we have a real figure as to what that comes to. It comes to €2.5 million for Westdoc in our area, but it completely excludes everything from the bridge in Portumna to the bridge in Banagher, all the way to south Roscommon to the areas and the GPs the Senator talks about, including the Ballinasloe area.
What concerns me greatly, and I raised this with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is that the GPs in the Ballinasloe area have served notice to withdraw their weekend cover from 1 December. There were very clear about that. If that were to happen, it would be the first time in 50 years that our GPs would have withdrawn from providing a service but also the first time in 50 years they have would terminated themselves out of a contract. They are contracted, of course, but not supported. In fairness to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, when I met him, he suggested, just as the Senator has, discussing the winter plan to see if there was capacity there to support GPs. To be fair to the Minister as well, I only sprang this on him yesterday. The Senator was very rapid in tabling the Commencement matter, so I have not had the space to have that conversation with the Minister and with my elected representatives from the area who were present the other night. They heard about the very concerning effects this is having on the protection of females within the practices and the out-of-hours services, and the pressure it is putting them under. There is also the health and safety piece but we also have to ensure we can maintain people within the practices and attract people into the practices in the area.
I am confident we will meet the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. We are still trying to figure out his availability. There may even be tonight after the voting block. I am not saying this is definite but we are looking for that space. The Minister has talked to me about the winter plan. There are two parts in this conversation. There is the Ballinasloe set and there is the Portumna piece. The latter is on three borders and the country boundaries of Clare, Tipperary and Galway. To be fair to those in Ballinasloe, they were never part of that arrangement and I do not think they wish to be part of it either, because that would mean Westdoc would be covering from Roscommon town all the way up to Portumna and to Lawrencetown. That is not feasible either if we are to ensure a proper delivery of a Westdoc service. We have a Portumna piece but we also have the creation of a new GP cell in Ballinasloe. When we get to meet the Minister, it is to be hoped we will be able to articulate, as the Senator has put eloquently, the need for representation for our GPs but also the need for the delivery of support in the area.
I know this is not an easy situation but we need that meeting with the Minister, as the Minister of State has mentioned. That has to happen. It is incredible to say we cannot support a network of GPs who are, as the Minister of State said, entering into retirement age and who have no support in place. We cannot talk about legacy issues here because right now we are talking about families and people living in Galway and south Roscommon who will not have access to GP support. They will not have access and yet we are saying we will expand the GP visit card and will have spent the largest ever HSE budget last year and will spend the largest ever this year. Despite this, we will not be doing anything about GPs, Sláintecare or supporting families on the ground, even though GPs are the first point of contact when it comes to medical issues, mental health issues and trying to make sure our families are supported. I am frustrated and I know GPs will be very frustrated with the fact there is nothing in the budget this year to support Westdoc and an expansion of its services. It needs to happen. It is not enough that the HSE has been asking for this and has been putting in submissions year after year for the past five years asking for support and it has not happened. That is not good enough.
Let us be very clear. The Department funds the HSE. We give the HSE the money and it is up to it to operationalise it. How the HSE decides to do this is out of my control as much as it is out of the control of the Senator. In any case, the HSE get the funds to operationalise it wherever it deems it necessary. The HSE obviously does not deem south-east Galway a priority within its allocation of funding. To get €4 million and not see Ballinasloe as a priority to me is wilful neglect. That is what it is. I call on the HSE to go back to the drawing board and reallocate its funding to see equality for our GPs right across the county, not in particular areas where operational cells are easy to work. Operational cells that are difficult, like those in Ballinasloe, need to be addressed head on. The HSE needs to reprioritise its €4 million because it is not good enough that the likes of a GP in Portumna gets a half day off every weekend. That is not sustainable, it is not good work-life balance and it is not good for their mental health. I will work with the Senator on this.
I thank the Minister of State for her time.
Ukraine War
I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to the Chamber.
I welcome the announcement that the Government has reversed the decision in Killarney. It was a very welcome development that, once it was drawn to the attention of Government, it operated in a very humane and quick way. It is regrettable it got to that stage. However, I very much appreciate and welcome that this morning.
When we began welcoming and supporting the families fleeing Ukraine due to this horrific and illegal war, we anticipated a six-month timeframe and we talked in these terms when families were asked to open their homes and support Ukrainians coming to Ireland. I appreciate that the situation escalated and continues to go on.
In the last few days there have been further atrocities with bombings and missile strikes on Kyiv, and on Lviv only yesterday. The war in Ukraine will go on for much longer than we anticipated or hoped and I appreciate that the war has put staff and certainly the officials in the Department under huge pressure. I wish to pay tribute to departmental staff, particularly those in Citywest whom I know work extraordinary hours and well beyond what normally is demanded as part of their job descriptions because of their sheer passion for supporting Ukrainian families.
I tabled this matter long before what happened in Killarney. In the last few weeks a number of families have approached me to tell me that the Ukrainians who are staying with them are worried that as their six months stay is coming to an end they will have to return to Ukraine or wonder what is the best course of action. I know of one instance that occurred in a conversation I had last night where I learned that one mother had informed the school attended by her children that the family would be leaving because their accommodation was going to finish this month and that situation had consequences for SNA hours for a child.
There is uncertainty with regard to Ukrainians staying with families. Perhaps there are Irish families who initially opened up their homes and now need to be assured that support will continue, and to have certainty that the Government is engaged with the ongoing plight of the Ukrainians and will provide families with supports.
My main question is about communication. I appreciate that this is a fluid situation and that everyone does their best but clarity is absent. Can the Department ask people to extend their accommodation for a further six months? The State has committed to at least a further six months but I contend that ideally the period should be a year because Ukrainians would have no homes to return to even if the war ends. I believe that there is a necessity for us to visit the fact that those initial commitment periods are now ending and, therefore, a solution must be provided. Will people be housed elsewhere? I would prefer if people could stay where they are because they have already come from trauma and are only a short period in Ireland. I would prefer if people were allowed to stay where they are as they have now built up networks, taken jobs and are part of a community. We certainly have a desire and a need to communicate stability and clarity in order to give Ukrainians some level of certainty and comfort.
I thank the Senator for raising this important matter in terms of the operation of the pledge process.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the activation of the temporary protection directive shortly afterwards, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-governmental response to the Ukraine crisis. My Department is focused on the immediate, short-term accommodation needs of those who fled here. To date, 52,000 people have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine of which more than 41,000 people are being accommodated by my Department and we are also accommodating people in the international protection process. All of that creates real challenges in terms of the delivery of accommodation and I think that we are all aware of that.
The Government is committed to delivering a humanitarian response to the needs of people from Ukraine and providing shelter and safety for these individuals. The response by the public has been huge. We have seen that in communities all around the country but we have particularly seen it in the context of the pledge process. Early on we put in place a pledge process with the Irish Red Cross and a very significant number of pledges were made. We have worked closely with a number of implementation partners such as the International Organization for Migration, the Peter McVerry Trust and all 31 local authorities.
I note that there were some initial delays with the pledge process but by and large it has worked well. At this point over 4,500 Ukrainians have been accommodated around the country. More than 10% of the Ukrainians that the State is accommodating are accommodated in accommodation that was pledged.
As Senators will know, earlier this year my Department introduced the €400 recognition payment. The payment is just recognition and gives some support to the families who have either pledged vacant accommodation or rooms within their own home. The payment has been availed of by 3,500 applicants who are hosting over 7,500 Ukrainians. Again, we made the payment open not just to those who had gone through the official pledge process but those who brought Ukrainians into their homes through other channels.
Obviously we would hope that at the end of a six-month pledge period a family would look to extend the period and we would look to support that. However, that may not always be possible. Where an arrangement comes to an end the implementation partners, whom I referenced earlier, will work with the Ukrainian beneficiaries and the local authorities to seek alternative pledged accommodation. Where this is not possible then the beneficiaries will have to return to our transit hub in Citywest for the allocation of suitable alternative State-sourced accommodation. We will try to do what the Senator said is the preferred option, which is to locate people somewhere local but we can make no commitments to do that.
I have to be very upfront in terms of the difficulties being experienced and pressures on my Department. What happened yesterday in Killarney is another example of that very real and immediate pressure that the Department is under to provide accommodation. We cannot give guarantees but we will always do our best. This morning, we were able to find a solution for the Killarney situation but there is no guarantee that a solution can be found for every situation. That reflects the unprecedented scale of this crisis and the uncertainty because in the last month the number of Ukrainians arriving has doubled from 700 a week at the start of September to 1,500 a week, which puts real pressure on international protection. We are operating to try and move people into alternative pledged accommodation where their pledged accommodation has come to an end or to extend the pledges. We will do our best but we cannot give guarantees.
I take the point the Senator made about communication and communication is important. We can do better in terms of communication on the Department side.
I acknowledge the exceptional welcome and generous actions by Irish people.
An issue arose in Killarney because the accommodation was continuing but with replacement people which created a curious and unnecessary situation. If there is a family who have completed their six-month pledge of accommodation and genuinely do not want to renew then that is fine but people will need to be relocated to wherever there is accommodation. I am sure we all appreciate that the spirit is to accommodate as much as possible.
I urge that families are communicated with and asked whether their pledge of accommodation is open-ended or whether they can commit for another six months. I make that suggestion because at least if people sign up their accommodation for another six months then the Ukrainian people staying with them will have certainty, particularly as these Ukrainian people are already in a precarious position. This is not a leasehold arrangement, and neither should it be, but extending the pledge will give people clarity and certainty. In addition, language difficulties will lead to a further anomaly.
I appreciate that the Minister has committed to ensuring there is communication.
An extension of a further six months provides very real certainty to Ukrainians and provides certainty to my Department. We are seeing situations where pledges have ended and people have had to go to Citywest thus requiring us to find new accommodation for them. We will find new accommodation for people but such movement adds to the pressures on the Department. I will certainly look for my pledge team to place some of its focus on the renewal of pledges while at the same time look to develop further pledges.
In terms of Killarney, the key point is that we seek two types of accommodation at all times - accommodation for Ukrainians and accommodation for international protection. It is incredibly difficult to source accommodation for international protection. We had to avail of the opportunity at the hotel in Killarney because we all saw what happened when we did not secure enough accommodation and international protection applicants ended up sleeping rough on our streets.
This is a situation I wish to avoid repeating but I cannot give that guarantee because the housing situation is so incredibly tight right now. This is the vista I am looking at. It is for this reason and this reason alone that the Department proposed to move the Ukrainians from Killarney to Westport. In this situation we have been able to find alternative accommodation in Killarney for them and they will be moved there shortly.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 11.20 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 11.33 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 11.20 a.m. and resumed at 11.33 a.m.