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

In terms of education and the provision of school places at primary or secondary level, I am very grateful to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, for acting rapidly to set up REALTs at education and training board, ETB, level. They are there to identify where there is spare capacity, where schools are under pressure and to match that to the needs of Ukrainian children initially, but also of international protection children. That is a good system that is operating well. The REALTs will be closely linked in with the new arrivals in Cavan and other areas to make sure we can secure school places for them.

In terms of the wider pressures, the Deputy is right that there is a risk that there will be greater pressures on the Ukrainian accommodation front going in to the spring. We have the modular accommodation approach, the new vacant homes scheme, and the refurbished home scheme that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is undertaking. We will have to examine the situation but a lot depends on how many hotels make a decision to revert to their former tourism use.

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