Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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34. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of Ukrainian nationals who have entered the direct provision system in each of the past ten years and to date in 2022. [27575/22]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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This is the first time in the 11 years I have been in the House that there has been no other Deputy present to ask a Minister a parliamentary question. The Minister will agree with me that the direct provision system has been a disaster. In a country that looks back continuously at wrongs the State has done, the fact that the direct provision system is currently still functioning is a reflection on ourselves. How many Ukrainian nationals have entered the direct provision system so far?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Deputy is correct about the direct provision system.

He knows of my efforts to end direct provision. We have the White Paper. We had a quite substantive discussion about that during the taking of questions earlier today and I set out what we are doing. I have been honest about the impact of the war in Ukraine, which has affected my Department's ability over the past three months.

Fourteen Ukrainian nationals sought international protection here in 2012. There were seven in 2013, 36 in 2014, 33 in 2015, 11 in 2016, eight in 2017 and five in 2018. I will provide the remaining figures to the Deputy after these questions. At the start of the current crisis, in late February, we saw an uptake in the number of Ukrainians seeking international protection, but once the temporary protection directive was introduced, the vast majority of Ukrainians arriving here have not been seeking international protection; rather, they are seeking the rights under the temporary protection directive.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I want to give credit to all the various community organisations and groups, including churches and State organisations, that have so far made resources available to people from Ukraine who have come to this country. There has been an enormous amount of work. It is important to give credit and recognition to those who have offered the céad míle fáilte to people fleeing what is a terrible war.

There is no doubt that there are already significant pressures on society and that many are feeling the pinch as a result, but in a time of war it is really important that we hunker down and do our best to ease the suffering of people being targeted. The danger is that the Government's plan for direct provision could in many ways come a cropper if it uses the system to house people who are fleeing from war. I am trying to get a sense of how the Government plan for direct provision and the current reality in the Ukrainian war are meeting each other.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. I echo his praise for the huge national effort that has been made by communities, local authorities, State agencies, charities and NGOs. An amazing effort has been made to extend a welcome and send practical supports to Ukrainians. The provision of accommodation to Ukrainians is imperfect. It is something we have had to put in place in such a short period for an influx the like of which we have never seen before, and that is at a time when we are trying to end a system that we have all identified as not fit for purpose. I am doing work in my Department in this regard. Last week I met the advisory group, including Dr. Catherine Day and Dr. David Donoghue, overseeing the implementation of the White Paper. I met them to determine how we can continue to respond to the needs of Ukrainians while at the same time ending direct provision. We will be introducing a revised schedule for the implementation of all elements of the White Paper shortly.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Can the Minister give us some information on the number of pledges by the general public of accommodation for people from Ukraine and the number of pledges that have been accepted in this regard? Has the Minister any information on the number of vacant homes repurposed to allow Ukrainian refugees to live in them? The issue of vacant homes has been a serious bugbear of mine for a long period. In my constituency about 4,000 people are on the housing waiting list and there are 3,000 empty homes. There are towns in my constituency where you could play hurling on the main street at midday on Friday because everybody commutes to Dublin. Most of the homes on the streets are empty. The solutions to ease the pressure regarding accommodation for Ukrainians are exactly the same as those to address everybody else's accommodation issues in the long term. If the Minister has any information on that, I would be grateful.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I share the Deputy's concern about the vacancy level in certain parts of the country, particularly in the smaller urban areas and small towns and villages. When the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced a package to respond to the Ukraine crisis and the wider housing crisis in April, he changed the measures under which people can apply for funding to refurbish vacant homes. He made it easier to access the funding. I hope that will allow the work to start in this regard.

There are now over 1,200 Ukrainians living in pledged accommodation across the country. Some 2,500 vacant units are being considered by local authorities at the moment. We notified the local authorities of these and they are working to move Ukrainians into them.

On shared accommodation, the vetting process is under way. Protection is obviously important where it is proposed to move a child or vulnerable adult into a house. Zoom calls, during which people show their identification to a vetter, are taking place.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am going to move to Question No. 37.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that. Things have moved on a lot faster than I expected this morning.