Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 March 2022
7. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Defence if the Irish Defence Forces will be involved in supporting refugees arriving from Ukraine in terms of settlement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13364/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to ask about the role of the Defence Forces in responding to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. We have major financial and humanitarian programmes of support, but as we expect more and more people to come to Ireland, I would like the Minister to outline the anticipated role of the Defence Forces in the major logistical programmes of support.
Ireland is continuing to provide strong political and practical support for Ukraine as we continue to assert Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Government has stated that Ireland will play its part in assisting people from Ukraine and has lifted visa requirements to allow people from there who want to seek safety in Ireland to do so as easily as possible.
The European Union has agreed a package of €500 million in military assistance for Ukraine. While Ireland has constructively abstained on the lethal equipment element of that package, we are paying our full share - approximately €10 million - and our funding will go to non-lethal supports. The Taoiseach recently confirmed that the Government would provide a further €10 million in humanitarian aid, adding to the €10 million announced a few days earlier.
The Government acknowledged the scale and scope of the potential implications for the State of the war in Ukraine and agreed that a co-ordinated, whole-of-government response would be essential to minimise those impacts. Discussions have taken place on the humanitarian response required to welcome people from Ukraine fleeing the war and seeking protection in Ireland. Significant planning and preparatory work is taking place across the Government to provide accommodation and other essential supports to those who have arrived here already as well as to the large number of further people expected to arrive. These include preparations on healthcare, education, social welfare and so on. The Government agreed that temporary crisis measures may need to be taken in order to deliver a response to this humanitarian emergency at the scale involved and within the short timeframe in which we have to operate.
As part of these discussions, there has been engagement with my Department and the Defence Forces on land use and temporary shelter options. Logistical support that could be provided by the Defence Forces is also being explored. The Defence Forces, as always, stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary and possible within their capacity and capability. This is an evolving situation but the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence are very much involved in a cross-departmental response that is being assessed on a weekly basis.
I thank the Minister. Throughout my constituency, I am hearing stories of children from Ukraine joining various schools. It is great to hear that this has happened for them so quickly. As I dropped my son off this morning, a young boy was joining junior infants and high-fiving the kids around him. He had settled in nearly immediately. I hope that persists because there will be a very traumatic change for people arriving here and every element of logistical support that can be provided to them to minimise that trauma - the trauma of moving countries, of what they have left behind, of who they have left behind - and make the transition easier and smoother for the children and their families is positive and welcome.
It is good to hear about the cross-departmental work. The best way to think about this is to do so from the perspective of the people arriving - what do they need, how quickly can it be given, what is the package of documents that they need, where do they need to go and how easy can all of that be made? As the Minister mentioned, the Defence Forces have the opportunity to contribute to that logistically.
This is a war-time situation and we need to get into that mindset to make the kind of contribution that Ireland wants to make to these efforts. So far, considerably more than 2 million people have come across the border from Ukraine into the EU, primarily into Poland, but also into Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, all of which border Ukraine. Of course, Moldova is under major pressure as well. That number is likely to continue increasing.
If this war continues, we could see somewhere between 4 million and 6 million refugees coming out of Ukraine into the European Union. Ireland wants to, and will, ensure we are part of those efforts in terms of accommodating Europeans who are fleeing war. That potentially means tens of thousands of people coming to Ireland at a time when we have many pressures of our own in terms of housing need and so on. I believe we are up for that. We are already putting in place solutions that can ensure that people are safe and welcome here.
I, too, believe we are up for that. When one looks back, we have already successfully put in place and operated many major logistical operations. I refer to the vaccination programme and how quickly that had to be mobilised and rolled out from a standing start. We have the capacity to do these different things. We have a little head start in terms of the relatively small numbers of people here now, but that is going to increase over time. The cross-departmental work is going to be crucial to that. Every effort that can be made to activate land use, accommodation and temporary shelters is a big part of that. I welcome the Minister's comments and I thank him for his work.
For me, it was very reassuring to see the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, at Dublin Airport yesterday meeting refugees as they arrived into Ireland. Instead of being asked to fill out forms and show their visas and passports, they were being given toys, mobile phone chargers and SIM cards. This is the message that Ireland wants to send, namely, that we are acting, preparing and resourcing in solidarity with a country that is being torn apart by brutality and an illegal war, which is undoubtedly responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, in my view, and which will be proven to be the case in time with evidence-gathering and so on. While this war continues and the refugee flows continue, Ireland needs to play its part and we will.
