Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to answer this as best I can. The amendment relates to applicants under the temporary protection directive, who are mainly Ukrainians because they qualified for that status when they came here. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is actively standing up arrival centres for use at the start of the new 90-day accommodation policy. The Department is identifying sufficient capacity of centres for designation and locations will be confirmed as they become available. The Cathaoirleach asked a question. As I understand it, IPAS recipients are already on the same rate of €38.80 per week so they do not qualify. When Ukrainians came here first, because they were beneficiaries under the temporary protection directive, they qualified for full social welfare payments in the same way as any EU citizen who comes here. We are now bringing this more in line with Europe. Once they are in a designated centre - in other words, once the State is providing them with accommodation - they will receive a reduced payment of €38.80 per week. That is the purpose of the legislation.