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

My Department is focused on providing short-term accommodation to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. As we spoke of earlier, more than 23,000 people have sought short-term temporary accommodation from my Department to date. Once accommodation is allocated to beneficiaries of temporary protection by my Department, transport to that location is organised for them. I have spoken directly with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, with regard to the transport challenges faced by those fleeing Ukraine once they are in State-funded accommodation, particularly with regard to access to the supports and services that they need. My officials have engaged proactively with the Department of Transport in providing information about where the short-term accommodation contracted by us is located, and the number of beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive accommodated there, so that this can inform decision making in the Department of Transport.

On 21 April, the Minister for Transport announced that his Department and the National Transport Authority will be providing emergency public transport services to displaced Ukrainians housed in isolated locations across Ireland. New supports include measures specifically designed to reach displaced Ukrainians in rural areas. One is an acceleration of network improvements which were previously committed to, identified through the Connecting Ireland public transport consultation, including additional stops, route modifications, and more services with the aim of increasing connectivity. Additional bus services are to be deployed to cater for those Ukrainians housed away from the existing public transport network. Another is a community transport fund, which is to support occasional travel requests. This will be operated by Transport for Ireland Local Link and will allow groups supporting Ukrainians locally to apply to that fund for once-off trips. Measures include speeding up of the expansion of Local Link, specific bespoke routes for centres which are not near a link, and that fund too.

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