Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Comhghairdeas leis an Naoise eile on his maiden address sa Dáil.

Much of the debate today has been around the military side, but like others, I will mention the EU humanitarian response to this war. The invasion began on 24 February 2022 and the European Union activated the temporary protection directive, TPD, in March 2022. That was pretty quick. Some 6.8 million people had to seek refuge from this conflict, mostly in the European Union and its immediate neighbours. This was the first ever use of the TPD. It enables residency, employment, access to social welfare,education and medical care, all of which are important. There is no doubt that , some wanted and hoped for the European Union to be overwhelmed and flooded by these numbers, but it has coped very well at a humanitarian level. As other speakers mentioned, more than 100,000 of those who fled Ukraine came to Ireland. Many have been hosted by families who receive the accommodation recognition payment. Like others, I encourage the Government to make a clear statement soon on the extension of the accommodation recognition payment so that both our international guests and those hosting them have the clarity they need to plan for the future. I would like to understand and hear from the Government in due course about where things are going with the TPD. It will be a matter for discussion at European level and I would like the Irish Government to take a strong lead in those discussions.

See this speech in context