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

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection directive by the European Union shortly afterwards, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-governmental response to the Ukraine crisis. The operational challenges brought about by responding to the conflict are significant. Our country has never experienced an influx of displaced persons such as the one that we have seen over recent months.

My Department is focused on the immediate, short-term accommodation needs of those who have fled here. To date, more than 53,000 people have arrived in Ireland. Approximately 41,500 of these have been referred to the Department seeking accommodation from the State. Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe for all those who require it remains very challenging. Due to the urgent need to source accommodation, a broad range of accommodation types have been contracted. The priority is to place people fleeing the conflict in safe and secure accommodation. The Government is committed to delivering a humanitarian response to welcome people seeking protection in Ireland as part of the European Union's overall response. The scale of response to this crisis has been unprecedented and the Irish people have displayed an incredible level of generosity in their support and pledges of accommodation.

I can advise the Deputy that as of the week ending 2 October 2022, the recognition payment was being paid in respect of 2,870 properties accommodating 6,148 beneficiaries of temporary protection. Of these approximately 4,500 have come through the pledge process. We were also very clear that people accommodating Ukrainians who did not go through the official pledge process would also be supported. It has been left as open as possible. There are 4,500 people accommodated through the pledge process. This is more than 10% of the overall population of Ukrainians accommodated here. It is a great support to our Department's accommodation efforts.

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