Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for leading out on this important debate and these important statements in the House. I agree with every word he has uttered and I am grateful for the opportunity to outline the role of my Department and the local government sector, which plays an important role and which I work with on a daily basis in the provision of accommodation and associated supports for our friends from Ukraine, the beneficiaries of temporary protection, and applicants for international protection.

We all acknowledge that there are legal distinctions between beneficiaries of temporary protection and applicants for international protection at European level, but we are here to discuss the accommodation needs for new arrivals to the country, regardless of what category they come through. At every given opportunity, I reiterate my position that we need to help new arrivals to our country. They are people who have come here seeking a better life for themselves and their families and many of them are fleeing conflict and persecution. As the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, stated, we know well as a people, from our history - including recent history - how people have had to flee our shores. They were not always initially given the welcome they should have got but they played an important role in their new countries. New arrivals to this country, particularly over the past 20 years, have made this country and society a better and more inclusive place for us to live in.

As Deputies will be aware, the temporary protection directive was put in place many years ago, following the outbreak of the conflict in the Balkans, and was intended as a mechanism for dealing with the large-scale movement of people displaced by such conflicts. The brutal invasion of Ukraine last year led to the activation of that directive and over the past 14 months it has provided an important framework to the EU and individual governments. For example, the activation of the directive enabled me, as Minister with overall responsibility for planning matters, to introduce new regulations that facilitate the putting in place of reception and accommodation facilities on an emergency basis, temporarily setting aside certain of the usual requirements of the planning system.

These regulations are the foundation of a number of aspects of the humanitarian response, including my Department’s refurbishment programme and the work the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is progressing through the accommodation working group. That group is chaired by Conn Murray, a former chief executive of Limerick City and County Council, and draws together key decision-makers involved in the sourcing and provision of accommodation for those seeking protection in Ireland. I commend that group on its work and I commend the expertise that Conn Murray has brought into that role to look across Government and get all the agencies working together.

The objective of the refurbishment programme is to bring multi-occupancy buildings that are vacant back into use as accommodation. What we are talking about are vacant buildings, both public and private, such as hotels, former religious buildings and unused offices to give but a few examples. As I stand here we have about 59 different projects in various stages of progression, from surveys to reviews, procurement and works under way that will provide just short of 3,000 additional bed spaces. Everyone here will agree that refurbishing and repurposing older buildings to today’s standards is not always straightforward. Work is under way at 16 sites, including surveying, procurement and building works.

Again, everyone here will appreciate that this number is changeable. Owners of private buildings can change their minds, withdrawing buildings for whatever reason. Other buildings are not suitable and this can oftentimes only be found out once the building is under active consideration. One such building regularly cited is the Royal City of Dublin Hospital on Baggot Street. In October 2022, Dublin City Council estimated that it would cost at least €17 million to bring this building up to the appropriate standard. Sometimes when we look at buildings like this we think they would be appropriate for use nearly immediately. However, that is not always the case. We have to be honest with people about that. When the Royal City of Dublin Hospital was investigated further, it became apparent that there were already plans in place for a part of the site. Having said that, there are many buildings across the State that, even if they cannot be brought into use in the short term, we should look at repurposing for the longer term because all of us realise that the reality we live in now, which is mass migration, is one that the developed world, Europe and Ireland will have to live with for many years to come, even post the conflict in Ukraine. We look at climate change and all the conflicts across the world, and people see countries like ours as a safe and secure place where they can rear their families so we have to be more flexible into the future about providing additional accommodation for the long term.

A technical working group is supporting the refurbishment programme and includes membership from my Department, the Departments of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Taoiseach, the OPW the Local Government Management Agency and the City and County Management Association, CCMA. The group has been assisting with the emergency situation but is also focused, as I have just mentioned, on longer-term accommodation needs. As part of this, my Department is reviewing the guidelines that were put in place a year ago to guide anyone that sought to put emergency accommodation in place at the beginning of the year. The review of these guidelines is aimed at ensuring that individuals and families will have greater privacy and comfort and that repurposed buildings, particularly those in local authority ownership, can be used as accommodation for a longer period or potentially converted to social housing or other forms of accommodation into the future. In general, we want to support people to live more independently than is possible in rest centres and other forms of emergency accommodation.

If we were to ask anyone who arrives in this country their preference, I believe it would be for more independent living and that is happening through the Offer a Home scheme. The launch of the unoccupied homes call, Offer a Home, took place on 24 November 2022. The media campaign comprised of national and local radio, print media and social media. The oversight group is chaired by my Department and it is overseeing that scheme. The group informs me that there have been 980 properties allocated so far, providing accommodation for just over 3,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection to date. That scheme has been successful but it has not been without its difficulties in its infancy, as the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has said. However, it is in good shape and we continue to ask people that, where there are properties they believe they can offer, to bring those forward. I would like to thank everyone who has made a home available under the scheme. I highly commend the chief executive of Waterford City and County Council, Michael Walsh, for the work that was done to make this scheme a success. New offers are still being received and welcomed by local authorities, which work closely with homeowners to ensure they are suitable and appropriately matched in terms of size, location and proximity to services.

My Department is also supporting the OPW’s rapid-build programme by helping with the identification of sites to cater for an initial 750 homes. I am regularly asked about the use of rapid-build homes in terms of social and affordable housing as well.

I am glad to use this opportunity to inform the House that we have identified 30 sites, with a target of 1,500 additional homes for social housing to be delivered through modern methods of construction. There are those who ask - I think this is quite dangerous - why we would do this for one cohort of people and not for another. Our job is to provide accommodation for all those who seek it. My Department and the local government sector are represented on the Irish refugee protection programme task force to co-ordinate and implement both the logistical and operational aspects associated with the Irish refugee protection programme. Together with the Housing Agency, my Department is represented among the membership of the programme board, which was established to oversee transition to the new International Protection Support Service. As well as that, the CCMA, which is the representative body of chief executives in local authorities, has established a new international protection support service working group to progress the various strands needed to ensure that the necessary supports and resources are in place.

A key measure being established through this is the local integration model for international protection applicants and refugees. The model will focus on supporting the principle of integration from day one, with the overarching aim of empowering applicants to live independently within our community. My Department is also supporting the work of the community response forums. In recognition of the huge task faced in putting structures in place at local level in order to respond to the needs of the Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection, community response forums were set up in March 2023 in every local authority area. These forums built on the experience, structures and local relationships developed during the Community Call response to Covid-19. Unsurprisingly, local authorities have required extra support and resources to maintain their day-to-day work in delivering services on the ground, while simultaneously scaling up to meet the current challenges. We are funding the provision of additional resources in all local authority areas to support this nationwide effort.

As the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth indicated, we have taken in more than 84,000 people in just over 12 months. That is 84,000 people who have fled their homes as a result of a brutal war or persecution. That was never going to be easy, and never going to be without its difficulties. However, by any fair estimation, when one looks back 14 months and sees that we have been able to accommodate nearly 100,000 people through various different strands, that has been a good, but not perfect, response. That is why it is important, as the Minister said, that we continue to work together as an Oireachtas in this regard. We must ensure that the noises and the message from a very dangerous fringe on the right wing are not allowed to take hold. It is not one or the other. It is not people who are resident in Ireland or those new arrivals into Ireland; it should be all. That is what we will endeavour to do and continue to do as a Government to look after all that need our assistance, whether they are people who were born in Ireland, not born in Ireland, resident in Ireland or those fleeing persecution or war elsewhere. Only when all parties redouble their efforts, and we will continue do to that, will we ensure that we provide the additional accommodation that is required. This is the new normal. Most Irish people understand that. The vast majority of Irish people and those resident here are welcoming. I thank the communities right across the country, both urban and rural, for their support and the work that they have done on the ground in providing the welcome and support that these people need and require from us.

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