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

I thank the Deputy. It is indicative of the real fears which Ukrainians have that they will make this journey here irrespective of the uncertainty of the accommodation situation they will have when they arrive here. It is indicative of their fears for themselves and for their families that they do so because they are in a wartime situation. There are missiles falling on civilian targets all over Ukraine and that is why people come here, even if they end up in tented accommodation in Gormanston or sometimes sleeping on camp beds, and see that as a preferable choice. We have to bear that in mind.

On the figure mentioned by the Deputy, I had thought that she had said 75% of all hotel beds were being used. My apologies for that as I misinterpreted what she said. The figure on the total number of hotel beds is 22% to 23%.

Undoubtedly there is pressure here, as there is in other parts of society but there is pressure on every European country right now. President Vladimir Putin is using refugees as one of the weapons in his war to try to unsettle us and undermine support for Ukraine and we cannot allow him to win in that context.

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