Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
123. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his engagement with the Red Cross on pledged accommodation to progress Ukrainians currently in hotels and temporary type accommodation arrangements are matched to these pledged accommodations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50596/22]
View answerSince the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection Directive by the European Union shortly afterwards, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-governmental response to the Ukraine crisis.
The operational challenges brought about by responding to the conflict are significant. Our country has never experienced an influx of displaced persons like the one that we have seen over the past months.
My Department’s role is focused on the immediate, short-term accommodation needs of those who have fled here. To date, more than 51,000 people have arrived in Ireland and in excess of 40,000 of those have been referred to this Department seeking accommodation from the State.
Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe for all those who require it remains immensely challenging. Due to the urgent need to source accommodation, a broad range of accommodation types have been contracted.
The priority is to place people fleeing the conflict in safe and secure accommodation.
The Government is committed to delivering a humanitarian response to welcome people seeking protection in Ireland as part of the European Union's overall response. The scale of response to this crisis has been unprecedented and Irish people have displayed an incredible level of generosity in their support and pledges of accommodation.
I can advise the Deputy that my Department is proactively working with Implementing Partners across the country to activate pledges. These include all Local Authorities and a number of NGOs. Irish Red Cross is one of the core NGO support partners activating pledges across the country and they are tasked with matching BOTPs to pledges, including offering integration supports and logistics arrangements.
My Department has since March supported the Irish Red Cross pledge process to activate as many suitable pledges as possible and engagement is ongoing with them since then as part of this process. I receive regular updates on this work.
The Irish Red Cross, along with other NGOs, supported my Department with moves from Student Accommodation during the summer months. Their staff and volunteers specifically provided support to BOTPs who had to vacate Maynooth University accommodation and Dublin student accommodation.
The Irish Red Cross are now focused on offering pledges to those residing in Temporary Rest centres in Dublin and have also been specifically requested to support Donegal Local Authorities to offer pledges of accommodation to BOTP residing in hotels in that county.
To date over 4,500 are in accommodated in pledged accommodation which has emerged from the Irish Red Cross pledge process, this number increases each day. Private pledges also take place.
