Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I might ask the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to answer the Deputy's question more fully than I can later but my understanding is that we are recruiting more staff for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, including IPAS. There are quite a lot of vacancies we are not able to fill, although we are keen to do so. We have been seconding people from other parts of the public service because we really need staff in that area. The former chief executive of Limerick City and County Council, Conn Murray, is now heading up a task force to bring everyone together in an area that has been disjointed in the past. This task force is particularly focused on refurbishing buildings. We have appointed Mr. Murray to pull all of that together and to try to refurbish as many buildings as we can get our hands on in order that they will be available for Ukrainians and international protection applicants in the first instance, although we will also need these buildings into the future.

See this speech in context