Ms Sheenagh Rooney:

It has been extremely challenging but on the beneficiaries of temporary protection, BoTP, side we have been able to provide accommodation to everyone who needs it. We are planning to provide further accommodation through various accommodation strands to those who need it. The structure that is set up to deliver that response at the moment is very much cross-Government and cross-agency. We find that structure is serving us well. Every week, a senior officials group, led by the Department of the Taoiseach is attended by all relevant Departments and agencies. A number of senior officials groups sit under that. Our colleagues from the LGMA who are present mentioned one of them, namely the accommodation working group. There are also others. Every week there is intensive engagement across the Government about all the challenges on both the BoTP side and the international protection, IP, side. Separate engagements take place every Friday morning between ourselves the County and City Management Association, CCMA, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage at senior level. A number of structures exist which are working well to foster the collaboration that is absolutely needed. We also serve a Cabinet committee which makes decisions that impact on the response.

We would not have achieved what we have achieved without the support of others, including those in local authorities, the offer a home scheme, communities, people who pledged to the Red Cross, the people who are involved from the OPW and modular homes and the Department of Defence, which stood up Gormanston and is working with us in Mullingar and on a number of other Defence Forces sites. We share information at local authority level every day. There are community response fora which is one of the lessons we are leveraging from the Covid-19 pandemic. We are satisfied that although it remains challenging and we are always at the mercy of the number of people who will arrive - as the Senator stated, it is uncertain where the crisis will go - the structures in place at the moment are serving us well.