Pa Daly
Question:11. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine will next meet. [5817/23]
View answerWednesday, 15 February 2023
Questions (11, 12, 13, 14)
Ivana Bacik
Question:12. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine will next meet. [6924/23]
View answer
John Lahart
Question:13. Deputy John Lahart asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine will next meet. [7242/23]
View answer
Mick Barry
Question:14. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet sub-committee that deals with a humanitarian response to Ukraine will next meet. [7265/23]
View answerOral answers (6 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 14, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine last met on Tuesday, 31 January and the next meeting is scheduled for 23 February. This committee, which I chair, works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the State's humanitarian response to people arriving from Ukraine who have sought temporary protection here.
Since the start of the war, more than 73,000 people arriving from Ukraine have availed of temporary protection in Ireland. To date we have accommodated over 78,000 people who have fled here, between international protection applicants currently in the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, system and those fleeing the war in Ukraine who have sought accommodation from the State.
The Government is focused on managing ongoing pressures on accommodation and services and significant capacity challenges in the face of continuing arrivals. We are also advancing the State's move from an emergency response to a more mainstreamed sustainable approach. Such an approach will be consistent and equitable for all, in light of the high volume of people seeking asylum and the need to maximise all existing capacity. This will ensure the provision of services and assistance is in line with international obligations and consistent and equitable in terms of criteria, needs assessment and means-testing.
In addition to meetings of the Cabinet committee, I have regular engagements with Ministers at Cabinet and individually to discuss matters of concern for their Departments. The Government is keeping our response to all aspects of this humanitarian crisis, in particular accommodation options, under continual review.
The efforts of the Civil Service, civil society and ordinary communities in welcoming Ukrainian people to Ireland have been nothing short of extraordinary but surely the recent allocation of responsibility for integration to the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, is an acknowledgement that the Government's response needs a more focused approach. That Minister of State already has responsibility for two other Departments. In order to properly deal with the ongoing problems of implementing the White Paper and the six reception centres promised in it, co-ordinating a response and getting other Departments into line in dealing with the services which have been put under obvious strain by the influx, would it not be more appropriate to at least appoint a junior Minister whose sole responsibility is for integration, rather than giving the responsibility to an already overburdened junior Minister?
I acknowledge the huge welcome and solidarity shown in communities across Ireland to those who have come to our shores seeking refuge. The Taoiseach has given the figures. We are all conscious of the enormous welcome and warmth there is. What is lacking is a strong co-ordinated response from the Government, particularly to the accommodation of refugees and those seeking international protection. We in the Labour Party and across the Opposition, as well as in the Ukraine civil society forum, have consistently called for stronger co-ordination and more support from other Departments for the Department of the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, than appears to be the case currently and, in particular, for the appointment of a dedicated junior Minister with responsibility for the housing of refugees and those seeking protection.
We need a point person, which we have pointed out on numerous occasions. I have consistently raised the need for us to have a point person who will co-ordinate information to public representatives and to whom we can furnish information on large vacant buildings. In my constituency, the offers we suggested of Baggot Street Hospital and the empty Jurys hotel at Ballsbridge, which has more than 400 rooms, are simply going into the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. There is no sense that there is any one co-ordinated point that will follow up on these offers. We hear that the International Protection Accommodation Services, IPAS, is under-resourced and simply does not have the capacity to take up offers of accommodation that have been made to it. That is very serious.
We also need to see a co-ordinated national information campaign from the Government. We are seeing very worrying signs of mobilisation by the far right and the exploitation of an information vacuum by a small number of sinister actors in spreading disinformation and then protests and intimidation. We need to see a national information campaign similar to that rolled out during the Covid-19 pandemic to counter the myths that are spreading.
Finally, I ask the Taoiseach to take on the social media companies because their platforms are allowing misinformation to spread. They are facilitating, in some cases, violent and intimidatory protests and, indeed, attacks on public representatives. Is the Taoiseach planning to meet with Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and others about this spread of disinformation?
One of the scandalous aspects of the direct provision system is how it has often left direct provision residents and asylum seekers at the mercy of management and those in management abusing their power against them. What measures are in place to stop this happening with regard to Ukrainian refugees who are staying in places that did not previously have refugees, for example, hotels?
I was in touch with Ukrainian refugees who told me an extremely concerning story about what has been taking place at The Address hotel in Citywest in which 141 Ukrainian refugees are staying. The State is paying the hotel for them to stay there. They spoke about the extremely poor quality of food being provided to them, which is overwhelmingly fried food that is having very negative consequences for their children's health in particular. They have seen a deterioration in their children's health and in the quality of food since they moved in there on 1 July of last year.
They have no capacity to cook their own food. They have no access to the kitchen and cannot have proper cooking facilities in the hotel rooms. They are now paying for this food, and since they have been paying for it they approached the management and asked whether the food could be improved and whether they could have more fruit and vegetables and so on. The approach of management was horrendous and extremely rude and brusque, including someone saying, "You need to eat less so you can be slim like me." It is a horrendous abuse of power. Then, to top it off, the three representatives of the refugees were evicted from the hotel. They were evicted from the only place they have to live because they were standing up for the refugees and negotiating with management about that issue. It is a horrendous abuse of power. What measures are in place to ensure this sort of thing cannot happen?
We are approaching the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, which is a humanitarian disaster that has not been seen in Europe for generations. It looks, unfortunately, like we are about to see a period of significant escalation in the war in the coming weeks. We are in a very dark stage as the world is pouring weapons into the region at the moment. It is clear that Russia is the aggressor. It is responsible for the horrendous violence and the disaster that is unfolding. As the Taoiseach said earlier, Russia is responsible for bringing the invasion to an end.
What efforts are being made, either by this Government or the European Union, with regard to seeking peace and potentially creating some opportunity for negotiations? Most wars end in negotiations. Most peace comes from some level of negotiations, but the voices for peace are invisible at the moment. Is any effort being made by the Government, either dealing directly with Russia or through the European Union, to see if peace can be achieved?
I thank Deputies for their questions. When we talk about the whole issue of Ukraine and the wider migration issue, we need to put it into context. We are seeing a war on the Continent of Europe the likes of which we have not seen since the 1940s. We are seeing refugee movements across Europe the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes, certainly not since the 1940s.
We have seen a trebling of international protection applicants from outside the European Union coming into Europe and also into Ireland. This is an unprecedented situation. I do not think we have seen as many people on the move for a very long time. The last time we would have seen something like this in Ireland would have been in the aftermath of the Famine and that was people moving out rather than in. Not far off 100,000 people have come to Ireland in the past year, either from Ukraine or other parts of the world applying for international protection.
Even if we had amazing foresight two years ago and decided to build a city the size of Waterford with 20,000 houses and apartments, that would be full by now. That is the scale and the numbers with which we are dealing. When we consider it that way, we have performed very well as a country and a society. We have taken in more people from Ukraine on a per capita basis than any other country in western Europe and provided them with shelter, heat and light, accommodation, access to education and healthcare and protection. When we look back on this period, we as a country will be proud of the contribution we have made to help Ukrainians escape the terrible war that has been visited on them by Vladimir Putin and those around him.
When it comes to the appointment of a Minister of State with specific responsibility for integration, which has been proposed by Sinn Féin, or a Minister of State with responsibility for the housing of migrants, which has been proposed by the Labour Party, I am not sure if that is the appointment of one new Minister of State or two. By the way, I do not think it is a bad idea but the law sets out very clearly that we can only have 20 Ministers of State. I am not really sure what is being proposed here. Is it additional Ministers of State to bring that figure to 21 or 22 or is it that we should suppress existing posts? If so, which ones, and why? I would be very reluctant, quite frankly, to come into the Dáil with legislation to increase the numbers of Ministers of State unless I had an understanding from other parties about whether we can increase the number from 20 to something higher, which I am open to, or whether we should abolish particular positions and if so, which ones and why. If we are going to do anything on it at all, I would really seek all-party consensus on it. I do not want to come into the Chamber and propose the appointment of extra Ministers of State only to be told this is a terrible thing by the same people who would have been calling for it for months. I hope Deputy Bacik will accept that I am sincere in that regard.
I want to say on the floor of the House that the response from the Government is co-ordinated. I do not think it is fair to say it is not. There is and must be a lead Department, as there must be for everything. In this case, the lead Department, appropriately, is the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. There is a co-ordinated response from Government, however. There is a Cabinet sub-committee, which I chair as Taoiseach. Senior officials from my Department are across what is going on.
To give Deputies a few examples as to how other aspects of the State and the Government have helped out, as we know, the Defence Forces have provided accommodation in barracks and camps and are willing to do more. The Department of Transport provides services in the airports and ports where people arrive. The Department of Justice has a role to play as well, of course, in border control. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has and will provide student accommodation in the summer for refugees, as needed. The Department of Foreign Affairs has regular engagement with the Ukrainian and other authorities. The Department of Health has provided medical cards and health services for tens of thousands of people. The Department of Education has made sure that 14,000 Ukrainian children have been enrolled in our schools. The HSE has put forward dozens of buildings to be considered for refurbishment to accommodate migrants. The Office of Public Works, OPW, is in charge of putting in place 700 modular homes for Ukrainians this year. It is, therefore, a co-ordinated response. The suggestion that the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has been left to do it all on its own is unfair and does not stack up when we see how many other people in different Government Departments and agencies who do work in different aspects of the State are really doing all they can to help out.
I do not have any have any plans at the moment to meet with the online platforms. However, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, do engage with the online social media platforms on a regular basis. I may ask them to take up the point in their particular meetings.
I am aware of the complaints that have been made in relation to the Address Hotel. I understand they are being investigated.
I believe we all agree that the best way to achieve peace in Ukraine is for Russia to withdraw, and if not withdraw fully from Ukraine then at least withdraw to the borders and the line of control that we had one year ago. While it is the case that from time to time EU leaders are in contact with Russia, it is not something I am doing. I have no particular relationship with President Putin. I have only met him once very briefly, but there are others who do. Those who have been in contact with him have come away with a very grim assessment that there is no interest and no willingness on the Russian side to de-escalate this conflict. We must bear in mind that it is the Russians who are firing missiles into Ukrainian cities and who are sending their drones to attack Ukrainian civilian targets. It is not the other way round. The Ukrainians cannot stop doing that. It is Russia that is occupying Ukrainian territory. What can the Ukrainians do? Should they stop defending themselves? I do not believe that is a realistic ask. I would never ask them not to defend themselves. The only prospect of peace arises when there is a change of heart and a change of minds in the Kremlin, and a willingness at the very least to pause and to pull back. That would appear to not at all be the case. In fact, they are planning an escalation and planning on murdering more people and doing as much harm and damage as they can.
Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar www.oireachtas.ie.
Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 2.01 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.04 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.01 p.m. and resumed at 3.04 p.m.