Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is close co-ordination between my Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the City and County Management Association, CCMA, which acts as a collective voice for the 31 local authorities. Those three bodies are now meeting regularly on the short-term accommodation work that is going on in my Department. Our engagement with local authorities on that is working in tandem with the work on longer term accommodation being undertaken by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I will be honest that at the start that three-way relationship was not as smooth or tied down as tightly as we would like but it is now. I think there is very good co-operation there now and a good exchange of information. The local authorities have been really strong in supporting our Department in identifying potential short-term properties, be they hotels or the like, where we can seek to accommodate people. They have been good in helping us in pledged accommodation particularly vacant pledged accommodation.

It is important to point out very clearly that at no time are we seeking to accommodate Ukrainian displaced persons in local authority housing of any sort. That is not happening. I know that there was some misinformation about that some weeks ago but at no stage will we be using local authority housing for the accommodation of Ukrainian displaced persons. That is why their support in identifying buildings, maybe large communal facilities in their area, maybe former institutional buildings which may be refurbished on a temporary basis and used for that medium-term accommodation, and their local knowledge about what may be sourced is so important. They compiled a list which is being worked through by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I cannot remember the official term but it has brought together a vacant institutions group which is looking at how we can refurbish those institutions. A number of names are out there, including Baggot Street Hospital and St. Ita's in Portrane, which may be considered to provide accommodation for Ukrainians in the medium term. Again, that is not the perfect accommodation that we would like to offer anyone. It is not a three-bed semi or an apartment but it is accommodation of a more permanent nature than hotel-based accommodation.