Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 February 2023
63. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the alternative accommodation that he has in mind for Ukrainian refugees in Killarney and Kerry, given that the tourist season is beckoning. [6338/23]
View answerI am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. I send my sincere sympathies to Deputies Danny and Michael Healy-Rae on the death of their uncle, Dinny Healy-Rae, a hard-working gentleman who left our shores for New Jersey 60 years ago. He was 90 years of age when he passed away yesterday.
The question is short. What alternative accommodation does the Minister have in mind for the Ukrainian refugees in Killarney and Kerry, given that the tourist season is beckoning?
I also wish to offer my sympathies to both Deputies on the death of their uncle.
My Department is accommodating over 55,000 people from Ukraine, having contracted 42,000 beds in over 700 settings, including in serviced accommodation and other repurposed settings. In County Kerry, communities have welcomed over 6,000 Ukrainians, with almost 1,700 in the Killarney town area. I know that those from Ukraine sincerely appreciate the community support they have received across Kerry and the rest of the country.
Those fleeing Ukraine continue to arrive in Ireland and last week, there was an average of 124 arrivals daily. It remains challenging to provide shelter to all those in need and this is very much the focus across Government. My Department is in negotiations, as contracts expire, with all existing providers to ascertain whether they will continue to provide accommodation for Ukrainians. No provider has definitively indicated the intention to cease services under the new contracts the Department is offering. We will keep this under review and will continue to procure serviced and self-catering accommodation where we can. Although negotiations are ongoing, it is accepted that some providers will choose to revert to the tourism offering shortly and we are preparing for this.
My Department is working urgently across Government with all partners to bring suitable alternative accommodation on board in all areas, including in County Kerry. The State is committed to delivering solutions beyond tourist accommodation and this includes progressing offers of refurbished buildings, the unoccupied homes campaign, pledged accommodation and rapid-build homes on suitable sites. My officials regularly meet representatives of Departments and Fáilte Ireland to discuss issues arising for those in the tourism market and how these can be responded to. The sector's continued support on this is really appreciated.
Ukrainian displaced persons can make their own private arrangements and can avail of State supports to do so, including potentially availing of pledged or vacant accommodation. So far, 6,482 Ukrainians have been accommodated in 2,700 pledged properties around the country.
I thank the Minister for his reply. The situation in Kerry is very worrying. I have heard a lot about it on Radio Kerry and from Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and other Deputies. It is also very worrying in County Cork, where I come from. The tourism season is starting soon and we are trying to promote tourism and continue to do so. It is quite possible that hotels will want to cease their contractual involvement and it is not clear from the Minister's answer that steps have been taken to make sure that the Ukrainians who are in hotels will have alternative accommodation immediately.
They cannot be left on the streets. If this accommodation ends, which is quite likely, we will have a two-tier situation here. If it does not, it will be detrimental to the tourism sector. The Minister might outline more clearly what will happen if this happens.
Undoubtedly, as I said in response to the previous questions, there are challenges here. This is a war-generated crisis and it places a challenge on Ireland and on other countries. As I said, there are a number of clear programmes to provide additional accommodation - modular, refurbishment and the new vacant home scheme - but I am aware of the risk in that regard, particularly in the early part of spring. Those three strands may not accommodate everyone if a significant number of hotels decide to revert to tourism. In that case, we will have to work with local authorities on the standing up of rest centres, which have been hugely beneficial in terms of our response. We will also engage with the third level sector in terms of university accommodation. That was extremely beneficial last year. We will look at all options to make sure we can continue to accommodate all those who we are providing accommodation with at present.
I thank the Minister for his reply. He is talking about a huge number of people who have taken up stays in hotels because of the crisis that we are in. These are legitimate people. There are people coming into this country who are undocumented who, as far as I am concerned, should not be in this country. No one should be in this country unless he or she is fully documented. If I was leaving this country to go to another country, that is the way it would be for me, and in most cases it is. In this situation, unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of people who are undocumented here. The Government is starting to tighten up on it now but the horse has bolted.
If contracts with the hotels end, they probably will not end with them all. I still do not see from the Minister's answers what exactly will be in place for these people if the hotels pull the contracts. As I said earlier, the tourism season is looming. Modular homes are not there. We are talking in a vacuum about homes that are not there at present and it is quite possible these contracts could end in the next few weeks.
In terms of the Deputy's earlier comments, it is important to say that someone arriving in Ireland has a right to claim international protection and often people have to flee a country on fake documents because they are being chased or repressed by a particular regime. If one were looking to flee one's country, if one were an Iranian feminist dissident or something like that, it is unlikely that the Iranian regime would give one an exit paper in which case one may have to flee the country on forged documents. That is an unfortunate consequence of the world we live in.
People have a right to apply and there is a process. We all recognise the process for assessing someone's international protection application has to speed up. At the end of that process, there is a determination. Some people may be granted international protection and some will not. In the latter event, those people will be deported. However, that is the process that works.
It is worth saying - I would have said this to Deputy Healy-Rae - I had a good meeting with the Kerry Community Response Forum with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and others, and I heard first hand the amazing work that is happening in Kerry in terms of welcoming both Ukrainians and international protection applicants. It was positive to see that real groundswell all over the county in terms of the support that is being given by community, voluntary and statutory groups.
