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

We will continue to use rest centres. They are an extremely important part of our response and part of the contribution local authorities have made. There may be a greater call on local authorities for the use of rest centres, especially as we enter the summer, depending, as the Deputy said, on the numbers that continue to arrive. Numbers have been lower since Christmas but last week, for example, they increased again to 124 per day.

The issue of communications is important. If we are moving Ukrainians from accommodation, we try to give them notice but there are times when moves have to take place rapidly. We do our best, but we need to signal to people that there may be times when we have to act quickly, especially if a contract falls through for a distinct reason.

In response to Deputy Bríd Smith, throughout all my communications from the first day of the invasion and its resulting challenges, I have recognised we are responding to the war in Ukraine and an increase in migration in the context of a housing crisis in Ireland. I have never not recognised that we have a housing crisis. I have always been explicit that our accommodation response for Ukrainians and international protection applicants is different and separate from our response to the needs of people experiencing the housing crisis. There may be confusion about our response and about who gets what which is being taken advantage of, but I have always been clear that Ukrainians and international protection applicants do not get a position on the social housing list or access to HAP. They are provided with emergency accommodation.

My Department has brought 75,000 beds of emergency accommodation on stream in the past year. That scale of emergency accommodation has never before been delivered in one year in this State. It is basic in many places but it provides shelter and security for individuals. I have always been clear that we have done so in the context of the wider response to the housing crisis. I know the Deputy will criticise our response to that but we are working in the same context.

In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, there are issues related to payments. We are trying to reallocate staff to the payments unit. I accept some providers have experienced delays. We have paid out more than €500 million to date but I recognise there have been delays and we are looking at how to address them. The Deputy is also correct about the need to streamline and speed up the assessment of people's applications for international protection. One of the reasons direct provision became such a problem is that people were left in the system for so long. I recognise the work the Minister, Deputy McEntee, did and the Minister, Deputy Harris, is now doing to put additional resources in place to speed up that process in order for people to get their determinations earlier.

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