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

We have put a roof over the heads of 75,000 Ukrainians in this country. We have done everything we could do to assist them in the awful plight that they have and had.

On Deputy Ó Laoghaire's amendments, I do not propose to accept these amendments. I understand the Deputy's intention here is to link the new payment rate of €38.80 to a person's date of arrival rather to the fact that they are staying in designated accommodation. We discussed this last week, and I know that the Deputy raised a number of issues with regard to how the designated centres would work. I understand that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has written to the Deputy to clarify how this will work in practice and I might take this opportunity to once again explain what is the intention.

Once this legislation is enacted, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will designate a number of accommodation centres that will be solely for use by new arrivals from Ukraine. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has done a lot of work in preparing for this with regard to identifying suitable centres. It has 3,200 beds lined up already in accommodation centres for new arrivals. The first two designated sites are the Stradbally site and the Ballyogan rest centre. Work is also well under way on three further sites that will come through the refurbishment programme the Department is working on, and the Minister will announce details of those in due course. We discussed this, and I said I would raise the issues the Deputy raised with me at the Cabinet committee meeting. We discussed it, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and his Secretary General were absolutely clear that they have sufficient accommodation lined up for this purpose. Part of the reason for that is the number of new arrivals from Ukraine has reduced significantly. In January, the numbers arriving were down by about 50% compared with December. As I said, the Minister and his officials are confident that they will have enough available space in the new designated centres to cater for the new arrivals.

If I accept the Deputy's amendments to link the payment rates solely to the date of arrival, it would mean two things. It would mean that new arrivals, regardless of whether they are in State-provided accommodation or not, would only get a payment of €38.80. There are people coming here who may not take up the offer of State accommodation, and if they were able to locate their own accommodation, they would then be entitled to the full payment. The intention here is to bring us in line with other European countries. Basically, it is one or the other. If one gets one's accommodation provided by the State, one does not get the full social welfare payments but the reduced payment. That is what we are doing with the legislation. If I accept the Deputy's amendment, it would mean that even those not in State accommodation would only get €38.80.

The second issue is that if we link it explicitly to the date of arrival, it would mean that we could not, in the future, look at reducing the payments for those who are already here and in State-provided accommodation. The temporary directive is due to end at the end of March 2025, and as we look ahead to that and start to plan for what happens afterwards, I do not think we should tie our hands by saying that once a person arrived here after a certain date, they are guaranteed State-provided accommodation and full social welfare payment indefinitely. If they are here before a date, then that is the situation at the minute. What we would be saying, if we accepted the Deputy's amendment, is that we would be doing that indefinitely. I do not think we should do that. It could well be the case that down the road, we may have to make the decision that anyone in State-provided accommodation, regardless of what date they arrived on, they will only receive a payment of €38.80. It is important, therefore, that we retain some level of flexibility here.

The Deputy mentioned the 90 days as well, and I will answer that question here. There are a lot of people from Ukraine who have found their own accommodation, and we have a large number of people coming into this country to take up employment. They have to find their own accommodation, whether they are workers in our health service or in other sectors. As I said earlier, the fact that we have managed to put a roof over the heads of 75,000 people really is a remarkable achievement in itself. However, people have to take responsibility for themselves and decide that if they are going to stay in Ireland, then they will either have to get a job, find their own accommodation or move on. Once the 90 days have lapsed, beneficiaries will vacate the designated accommodation so that new arrivals from Ukraine can be supported. The conditions applying to State-supported accommodation in Ireland for beneficiaries of temporary protection will have been widely communicated in advance of the commencement of the new accommodation policy to ensure that they can make an informed decision as to whether they travel to Ireland. During the 90 days in designated accommodation, beneficiaries will be supported in finding employment and sourcing accommodation which may be private, with their own income or rent supplement or both, or the offer of a home pledged through the Irish Red Cross or private individuals. Once beneficiaries leave designated centres, they will be entitled to apply for social welfare payments equivalent with Irish citizens, and transport to and from designated centres will continue to be arranged.

It is also impossible to predict whether the 90-day policy will actually give rise to homelessness. What we do know is that a no-change policy carries risk given current accommodation constraints in Ireland and the challenges of continuing to source accommodation, in light of migratory pressures and crisis situations. The present policy of support does not align with other member states or incentivise independence or integration into communities.

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