Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I answered quite a number of the questions that the Deputy raised in respect of rapid builds and so forth. As I have said, my strong answer is that we are in a wartime situation. That is why so much hotel capacity has been made available to take people, including women and children, who are fleeing war. That is why. There is no easy solution to this, but we have managed it so far. There has been an extraordinary response by the country and the sheer numbers are unprecedented. We will work as we have worked since the beginning of the war to continue to accommodate the people who come in as best as we can. It is very difficult and challenging and it will remain challenging until this war is over.

We are reconfiguring a number of public buildings that are not quite reconfigured yet to take additional numbers. As I said, we are also looking at rapid build to try to accelerate that and to get higher numbers. We are continuing to work with the many people who have made their facilities available. However, we are one of the few economies in Europe that is still growing. The war is having an economic impact and there is no escaping that. This Government was very supportive off the tourism industry during Covid-19, and it has acknowledged that, but we are in a wartime situation that casts significant shadows and clouds over the economic sky of Europe and that will remain so until this war is over.

See this speech in context