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

I thank Deputies for their contributions. As provided under the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022, the draft order laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas cannot be made law until a resolution approving the order has been passed by each House. Therefore, approval of the motion by the Dáil today is essential to ensure the continuation of the scheme.

As I said in my opening contribution, it is certainly my understanding of the legislation that we cannot make the change proposed by Sinn Féin via a motion. The only thing that a motion can change is the day on which the payment is made. Any other changes would require primary legislation.

I listened to the contributions from Deputies. I do not like addressing Deputies when they are not in the House. I appreciate that Deputies are busy. I was criticised by a number of them on value for money. I suggest that the accommodation recognition payment represents very clear value for money and a saving for the State at a time when we are spending significant sums of money on meeting the accommodation needs of Ukrainians. That is accepted. The accommodation recognition payment is a far more cost-effective means and, probably, a far better means for Ukrainians in the context of their independence.

I was also criticised by a number of Deputies with regard to the impact on tourism. That is recognised. I assure Deputy McNamara that I recognise that the impact has certainly been greater in certain parts of the country. Right now there are 22,000 people in accommodation, supported by the accommodation recognition payment, who are not in hotel beds. That also has to be recognised. One of the core reasons we introduced this was to provide options so that we were not just relying on the tourism sector. We have 75,000 people in accommodation right now and 22,000 of them, representing a very significant proportion of the accommodation needs of Ukrainians, are not in hotel beds. Without this payment, I do not think we would see that level of take-up and we would probably have an even greater degree of pressure on the tourism sector.

We are in a position of change now with regard to our offering towards Ukrainians. As Deputies know, a new accommodation regime involving a 90-day limit will be introduced at the end of this month. That change will be intensively notified to Ukrainians in Ukraine, around Europe and here in Ireland so that they can provide that information to family members. Since Christmas, we have already seen quite a significant decrease in the number of Ukrainians seeking temporary protection in Ireland. We are going to see vacancies occurring in our Ukrainian accommodation. That is occurring now and that is why we have not added to our stock of Ukrainian accommodation. In the past two to three months we have been able to house new people who arrive through vacancies.

As the new system applies and as Ukrainians move into private accommodation here, move back to Ukraine or move elsewhere in the EU or the world, we will see more vacancies in the hotels my Department has contracted. The Department will be actively looking to manage that and to step away from contracts, because we want to be responsible with the payment of State money and to be in a position where we can release accommodation back into the tourism sector in particular. This piece and the piece the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has been working on are essential to the implementation of the new policy. Once that policy is implemented, we will look at how we start to consolidate our existing very significant stock of accommodation contracts. Where we have evidence of people overcharging us or charging us for vacant nights, we have moved away from them. We have moved away from a significant amount of accommodation around the country and we will continue to do so. When we are consolidating, contracts with providers we have a challenge with will be some of the first sets of contracts to be ended.

I am aware that Deputy McNamara has tabled a significant number of parliamentary questions about international protection. We are extremely scrutinous of occupancy rates in our existing international protection centres because I could not stand over a situation like the one we have right now - over 900 people are unaccommodated and we are at risk of not being able to accommodate all families - if there were significant vacancies in our international protection accommodation. In almost all cases, especially those involving family accommodation, the numbers in a room and the numbers in a family do not match, so it creates a disparity. The Deputy has called that out. I am confident on this, having gone back to my Department on it many times. In practical terms, it is far easier to ensure all our beds in existing places are in use than to open somewhere new. If that easy win was there, we would take it, and we have taken it. I am strongly reassured by my Department that where there is a variance between total occupancy and current occupancy, it is due to family configurations. I am strongly reassured by my officials that it is not the case that there are beds lying vacant all over the place.

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