James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the most breathtaking statistics of 2022 was around immigration and payments for Ukrainians. I know it has been a difficult task for the Department but there is one irreconcilable statistic, which is that the EU average for the increase in migration from Ukraine from September 2022 to September 2023 was 7.2% while in Ireland, it was 72.1%. I think Elaine Loughlin of the Irish Examinerpublished an article on that. We must ask ourselves why this has occurred. One question that is on many people's minds and is worth asking because it is important that we do put these questions to Departments and relevant officials concerns the fact that weekly payments of €220 were being paid. Obviously, in recent times, there has been strong discussion and work done to reduce this to €38.80 per week and the 90-day limit. Does Mr. McKeon think that the decision to pay €220 per week over that sustained period had anything to do with the previous reference I gave involving the increase in numbers in Ireland?