Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

Ireland has a long record of goodwill. When families fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we opened our doors and we opened our hearts. That was the right thing to do. However, goodwill must behold its shape. It must be fair and it must be sustainable. Across Europe, governments are adjusting their supports as the conflict continues. Germany has applied the same means test to those of its own citizens. The Czech Republic limits free accommodation to 90 days and has set modest monthly allowances. Poland has withdrawn its cash payments to private hosts. Slovakia has reduced its accommodation support by half.

Ireland, one of the few states that has granted full welfare equivalent supports from the start, still gives a full medical card to every Ukrainian passport holder upon arrival, without a means test and without proof of prior residence in Ukraine. In a reply to a recent parliamentary question from me, the HSE confirmed that since 2022, more than €92 million has been spent on medical cards alone, consisting of €14.15 million in 2022, €24.2 million in 2023, €28.96 million in 2024 and €25.03 million in the first nine months of 2025.

At the same time, more than 16,600 Irish citizens, including 5,200 children, live in emergency accommodation or on the streets in many of our cities and towns. Many of our older citizens lose their medical cards because of small pension increases that push them over the threshold and face review after review, year after year. While the State has been able to fund large-scale supports for our new arrivals, our survivors of institutional abuse had to go on hunger strike for over 50 days outside the gates of this very Parliament to secure a modest pension uplift and a basic medical card for roughly 4,000 people.

In recent years, the State has resourced many groups overnight but the survivors of these institutional abuses had to put their health on the line to be heard. That contrast gives rise to a serious question about the priorities of the Irish Government. This is not directed at Ukrainian families, as the Labour Party suggested in this House earlier; it is directed at a Government that treats groups of people differently based solely on political convenience rather than the needs of its own people. Fairness demands one standard. I ask the Government to ensure that we have one standard for everybody in this country.

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