Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

This proposed reduction in the accommodation recognition payment from €800 to €600 a month is not just a bureaucratic tweak, it is a deeply short-sighted move that will hurt the very people we have asked to step up, that is, the thousands of families who have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing war. When the war began and we stepped up, we talked about the huge solidarity the Irish people demonstrated to the Ukrainian community who came here, to our towns, villages and cities. Now, while the war still is not over, the Government is saying that it will take that down a little bit.

We should be honest in recognising that this payment works. We know that. A recent survey of hosts carried out by the Irish Red Cross indicated that 91% of them had a positive experience. We should also remember that these people were never landlords. Some 91% of homes involved in the scheme were never registered with the RTB. These were ordinary families, not investors or speculators, and they did not join this scheme for profit. They were ordinary families who answered the call that came from all sides of this Chamber. Most cited solidarity as their primary motivation but the €800 payment makes it possible for them to keep going, especially now, when the cost of living continues to rise.

Cutting this payment is not just bad social policy, it is bad economics.

Internal Government documents, now public thanks to media reporting, show that cutting the payment could actually cost the State millions of euro more. If even 10% fewer people were to take part in the scheme, this reduction could push an extra 100 people per month into emergency accommodation such as hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and guesthouses at a potential additional cost of €7 million by the year's end.

This measure is not just penny wise and pound foolish; it is self-defeating. There is an aura of cruelty being built into it. The Department of integration has offered no clear business case to justify this cut. It is my understanding that the Department of public expenditure has asked for one and simply has not received it yet. The Department had to model the cost itself and those models showed what many of us already know, namely, that this is a functioning scheme that is no doubt under pressure and cutting supports risks breaking it. The rationale given is that the change will help us to wind down the scheme in advance of the end of the EU's temporary protection directive in March 2026. That is a full nine months away and there is no guarantee that at that point this war we all recognise to be cruel and unjust will have ended. We all stand in the House on every anniversary of Russia's cruel and unjust invasion and express solidarity with the Ukrainian community but none of us were told that solidarity comes with a clock ticking.

The war in Ukraine has not ended and the needs have not changed. People are still seeking refuge and communities across Ireland are still stepping up, not only to provide solidarity, although that is there in abundance, but being enhanced by it. We also should not forget what happens when we try to cut costs haphazardly. Only recently, more than 200 Ukrainian refugees living in Dublin 1 were told out of the blue that they would be uprooted. Some would be sent to County Kildare, others to Bray and, astonishingly, children were to be separated from their parents and sent to Swords, all with 48 hours' notice. That is not how a compassionate or competent government acts. That is chaotic. It is cruel and, at its very essence, retraumatising of a people who have to actively flee from a war.

We cannot separate policy decisions like these and propose they be cut from the human consequences that follow. If we reduce this payment, we reduce the capacity of communities to host and if we reduce capacity, more people will end up in emergency accommodation. That means more rushed evictions and more upheavals. Without a shadow of a doubt, we should improve the scheme where necessary. Let us tighten it and provide oversight if there is evidence of abuses but let us not destroy something that works just to tick a budget box.

What we need right now is certainty. We need clarity for host families. We need stability for those still fleeing the war and we need compassion to remain the cornerstone of our refugee response. We will not support the cut and we will not support Sinn Féin's amendment. We think we should protect what works and maintain sensible schemes that encourage integration rather than isolation.

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