Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ward for his comments and recognition of the work done by staff in my Department. I agree with everything he said. The impact of this war will be felt by individual Ukrainians in different ways, in different circumstances and at different times.

In terms of the health services we have in place for Ukrainians, when they arrive in the Citywest welcome centre there is a HSE presence there. All Ukrainians are screened at that stage. We have had cases of people arriving with injuries or very significant conditions. Deputy Ward alluded to the fact that mental health issues do not necessarily manifest at this stage. We have the opportunity at that point to identify if someone is in a particularly difficult situation and we can signpost services, be it for mental health or a chronic health condition. Ukrainians are also entitled to the medical card and are able to access the healthcare services on the same basis as anybody else in the State. We all recognise the pressure our existing mental health supports are under at present.

What we are doing in terms of the community fora - the local organisations at local authority level - is bringing in the statutory services, such as Tusla and the HSE, and using those fora to link services to centres in the particular local authority. For example, Tusla or Tusla-funded organisations such as family resources centres, many of which, as the Deputy will be aware, have a dedicated counselling budget, have been able to link in and support Ukrainians. There is the initial health screening and then the linking in of statutory and community and voluntary services to reception centres via the community fora.