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

I thank Deputy Durkan. I take the Deputy's point on the importance of standards. We will always look to provide good standards of accommodation. We must realise, however, that temporary accommodation is temporary in nature and the standards will be different from permanent accommodation. We must also remember that people arriving here from Ukraine are fleeing sub-zero temperatures coming to them in winter, are fleeing daily energy blackouts, and are fleeing drones and missile attacks to their areas. I am aware that Ukraine may not be on the top headlines of the news every day now but there remains a brutal war going on there. This is why Ukrainians are coming here. They are not coming here with the desire to be located in Kill or in Blanchardstown. They are coming here because they are fleeing a brutal war. We must always keep this in mind.

We do continue to provide that welcome. I work very closely with the Ukrainian Embassy. The Deputy will be aware that in recent weeks we have had to be very honest with our Ukrainian friends about the pressure on accommodation right now and the immediate availability of accommodation that was here in the earlier stages will not be here in the future. There will have to be a more managed arrival on the accommodation side. We have flagged this with the Ukrainian Embassy and we have worked closely with them to ensure that we can continue to accommodate people who arrive here. We will also be able to accommodate those who are here at the moment and who may have to move if hotels decide later on this year or early next year to revert to traditional tourist business. It is a complicated balance and we need to do it working with communities. In the context of Kill we will continue to engage in negotiations with the provider there. We will address the concerns that have been raised. If a contract is agreed, information about that will be provided to elected representatives, to local representatives, to councils and to community groups.

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