Dáil debates

Thursday, 5 May 2022

Accommodation Needs of Those Fleeing Ukraine: Statements

 

3:25 pm

Photo of Jennifer Murnane O'ConnorJennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I missed the Minister of State’s contribution. I was at the national child safety summit in Croke Park. It was an excellent event and well done to all involved, including One in Four. It was an enlightening experience, and this is a matter that must be addressed in the long term. When somebody comes to us for help, the only thing we can do is to offer that help. By the end of May, we are expecting that between 29,000 and 33,000 Ukrainians will be seeking accommodation in Ireland. We must do what we can to support them. I spoke about this at the parliamentary party meeting. I am working with a group in Carlow and I am finding the generosity of the Carlow people amazing. It is the same all across the country. We are all aware of how good Irish people are when it comes to something like a crisis, and this is a crisis.

That said, I have a few concerns. One is in the context of bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation. In Carlow and across the country, we have seen communities get together and do up houses and old schools because we are trying to ensure that everyone who comes here will have a place to stay. The issue now is that this type of approach is not sustainable in the long term. While I welcome everything that has been done, and I am conscious I missed the Minister of State's contribution, I wonder what our long-term plan is in this regard. We need a strategy for the future. This is not a situation that is going to go away overnight and we must ensure we have a framework in place to address this aspect. This is important. It is important for Irish people and Ukrainian refugees to know that we have such a plan in place.

Previous speakers mentioned that when we originally talked about accommodation, people were asked to offer up houses. People have been so good and they have done that. I am also, though, getting phone calls in my constituency from people who are saying they tried to get in contact with someone in this regard, but no one has responded to them. Another person rang me to say a family was living in a house the caller felt was not up to scratch. It was felt that the house had not been checked properly and that it should have been before a family was put in to live in the building. We are just starting to come across these sorts of issues. In fairness to the Red Cross, which is doing its absolute best, this is an unprecedented situation. No one was prepared for this to happen on such a scale. We can only say to those in the Red Cross that we understand they are doing their best in this context.

Regarding people with disabilities, a man contacted me through a family. He is in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, the accommodation he was put into was unsuitable. In the end, the man was moved. There was a meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning and one of the topics that came up was that people with disabilities fleeing war can be treated unfairly if they cannot advocate for themselves. This is another aspect to be considered. We must be extremely mindful of people with disabilities and of people in wheelchairs. We must ensure, if we can, that we are able to accommodate them. We must be mindful of this aspect too. I contacted the office of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. However, there is an issue in this regard. In fairness, everybody is doing their best. Local authorities are doing their best, and I can only sing the praises of Annette Fox of the Carlow County Development Partnership, CCDP, in the context of its social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. The Minister of State knows Ms Fox as well. She is doing an excellent job. All these different agencies are doing their best. My point though is that it is important that there be more points of contact for people wishing to offer their homes for accommodation in places like Carlow town, Tullow, Bagenalstown or the Minister of State's city of Kilkenny. Similar to what I said before about people who have a house or a holiday home, the problem encountered concerns trying to get the relevant information and getting it quickly. This seems to be the biggest issue we are facing. Therefore, I ask that we examine a system to address this issue. In Carlow, the SICAP programme is leading this endeavour through the community. The local authority, and I mention Brian O’Donovan and Michael Brennan in this context, is also playing a big part regarding the issue of accommodation. What is important is getting the relevant information out fast enough and undertaking communication quickly. I ask that this aspect be examined.

I reiterate that it is important to say we are all doing our best here and working as best we can. I would feel more secure about the future, however, if we had a framework in place. Hopefully, perhaps, the Minister of State might come back to us in a few weeks with a response that will provide us with more information. I must return to the point - and there is no point in blaming anyone because everyone is doing their best - that I always feel that the provision of information seems to be where we fall down a bit. I know the Minister of State will address this facet.

The Sunday before the bank holiday weekend was Easter Sunday for Ukrainians who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They have a slightly different date for Easter. In fairness to Annette Fox, Stephanie McDermott and all the different groups, and I do not want to mention too many people because I will always forget someone, a big event was organised. It was lovely to see children present and playing at the event. There was Ukrainian music. When we were going into the room, there was food and lovely arty eggs. It is a tradition in Ukraine to buy and craft colourful eggs for Easter. When I was in that room, I just thought how nice it was that we in Ireland are ensuring that we make these people feel welcome.

That is part of it, namely, trying to make sure they have their events that they need to have. There are challenging times ahead but I know that we in Ireland will do our best and will make sure they are kept safe.

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