Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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69. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the levels of cooperation that his Department has had from other Government Departments and local authorities to assist with providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57250/22]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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This question is to ascertain what actual support is being given on the ground from other Departments to the Minister’s Department to provide for the urgent housing needs of Ukrainian refugees and for refugees seeking international protection, who I also should have mentioned in this question, because that is vitally important.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for this question. The operational challenges in responding to conflict are very significant and all Departments and agencies contribute to meeting the welfare needs and integration of Ukrainian displaced persons into communities. As a country, we have responded well in assisting those and we will continue to work across Government to do that. As the Deputy will know, the Department of the Taoiseach chairs a senior officials group, SOG, who meet weekly to consider all issues to do with the accommodation and the wider supports for Ukrainian displaced persons.

At the Citywest hub, the Departments of Justice and Social Protection both have officials in place and have that initial engagement in the provision of PPS numbers and a letter. The Department of Social Protection has a dedicated webpage for those arriving under the temporary protection directive. The information is comprehensive and addresses public services, income supports and getting a payment, and is available in both Russian and Ukrainian.

There are HSE personnel on site in Citywest and they assist with medical matters for both Ukrainians and international protection applicants on site. There is also a whole-of-government website dedicated to information for Ukrainians arriving here.

Local authorities are playing a major role, are standing up emergency rest centres around the country and have organised the Ukraine community fora around the country in bringing together statutory services on a countywide basis so that they can support Ukrainians living there. They have also been very involved in the pledged process in moving Ukrainians living in that particular area into pledged accommodation.

We also had engagement with the Department of Defence in securing sites for additional accommodation.

On international protection, we work closely with the Department of Justice. The International Protection Office makes a determination on international protection applicants and Tusla, which is an agency within my Department, will work closely with, in particular, unaccompanied minors, be they from Ukraine or from another country who are seeking the help of the international protection system.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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That is a nice high-level overview of the situation but does not relate significantly to the reality on the ground. There are big problems. For example, in Ballybofey, the asylum seekers being housed there have no GP services available to them because they have no PPS numbers. There were moved up to Donegal without these numbers having been applied for, which means that they are using hospital and ambulance services because are no doctors available. That is a shocking situation for them to be in. This is also happening with Ukrainian refugees in Buncrana and Carndonagh where they are using ambulance services because they have no doctors available. Very quickly, word goes out to the community that the refugees and asylum seekers are getting better access to these services, but that is because they have no access and have to use the services this way.

We then have a situation also where schoolchildren will be receiving school transport and these services are not meeting the needs. We also had a case in Killybegs recently where somebody had to support and pay for the school transport to enable the Ukrainian children to attend school.

There may be high-level agreements which are working well at that level but it does not seem to be translating down to the ground and that needs to be addressed.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I will follow up on the specific issue of the PPS numbers. I have always recognised that the scale of the challenge and increase in international protection, IP, numbers is putting pressure on the system. One cannot have that number of people arrive in a country in a crisis situation without pressures. There will be times when the system will not work as quickly as it should. I understand that and it causes frustration both for those Ukrainian and international protection applicants who are not receiving services as quickly as they should. It creates frustrations for everybody else as well.

If we look at the situation in Berlin, thousands of people are being housed in tents there, for example, because that is a pressure that is being put on there. I spoke to the Scottish Minister and they are also under very significant pressure there. Scotland is a country which wants to support people, unlike, perhaps, other parts of the United Kingdom. There are and will continue to be pressures and we will continue to work across Government on how best to identify and rectify them as we go on. Where Deputies raise these issues with me, I will do my best to smooth them out.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I understand that there will be pressures because of the unprecedented situation but there are also pressures for people trying to live in the areas and it is very difficult for international protection residents and Ukrainians who are coming here. A basic thing like a PPS number allows them to get a medical card and GP services in an area. This is very basic and nobody should end up in an area who does not have a PPS number. Surely, with computerisation and everything else, PPS numbers can be issued to people reasonably quickly. I received a response back from the HSE saying that it expects that it could take months before a PPS number will be registered and given to these people, which means that it could take months before they can apply for a medical card. When they apply for a medical card it may then, equally, take months before that medical card will be granted. That is untidy and should not be happening. I know that there are difficulties but I do not believe that those things should be presenting difficulties. I thank the Minister.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There is nothing that the Deputy has said there that I can disagree with. I am happy to look into that and to see what we can do to expedite the process in that particular situation. Following up on this issue, and I do not need to tell the Deputy this, but the reason we are under pressure is because of the scale of the war and of its ongoing nature. Many of us in this House thought that our response would be a short-term one over a number of weeks. That is not the case and even when we see Ukrainian forces in the ascent in many parts of the country, we continue to see Russia’s ability to target the civilian population. I am not a dad but we can think about any mum and dad making the calculation as to whether they will go back, want to go home and re-establish their family. If there is a risk of a missile or drone landing, however, one can see why many will make the calculation to stay here, difficult as it is.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I am not questioning the policy here.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I understand that the Deputy is not. I will follow up on the specific point of the PPS numbers raised by the Deputy.