Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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78. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline the progress in integrating those in temporary protection from Ukraine and who have refugee status into work, education and community activity; and whether further policy initiatives are under consideration to improve integration. [55781/23]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Although the Minister and the Government have announced changes in respect of new people coming from Ukraine, there is a continuing issue relating to the success of integration policies. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien, has the national integration fund, but there is a need for further initiatives in this sphere, given the scale of arrivals, with 125,000 people to be integrated into communities.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Since early 2022, Ireland has provided accommodation to more than 99,000 people, between those fleeing Ukraine and international protection applicants. This includes more than 73,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection and more than 25,000 international protection applicants currently in IPAS accommodation. Prior to the war in Ukraine, there were 8,300 applicants for international protection in State-supported accommodation. My Department is focused on the provision of immediate temporary accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection who seek it. BOTPs can access the labour market on arrival in Ireland, as well as education and health supports. International protection applicants can be granted permission to access the labour market if they have been waiting six months or more for the first decision on their application.

The Department of the Taoiseach co-ordinates the whole-of-government response to Ukraine. Other Departments and agencies are also involved in this response and the integration of BOTPs and international protection applicants. The cross-government Ukraine response is being supported by community response forums at local authority level, which provide assistance to those fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as to international protection applicants. The forums include representatives from NGOs, volunteers, the HSE and others at community level throughout the country who are contributing to the welcoming and integration of new arrivals.

A new community engagement team was established in September. Its role is to engage with communities to assist with the arrival of asylum seekers and those seeking protection from the war in Ukraine. The team engages with communities to assist with the welcome and integration process for new arrivals.

The programme for Government committed to developing and implementing a successor to the migrant integration strategy, which concluded in 2021. Work is currently under way to develop a new national strategy, which will build on the momentum of its predecessor and address ongoing and emerging needs in supporting migrant integration in Ireland.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I recognise the extraordinary efforts his Department and the wider Government services have put into this task. At a time when some people are trying to undermine the work of the Government and create division within the community, we need to step up our innovation in the approach to integration. There is a need for funds that involve local community organisations, such as the GAA or partnership companies, which are a very powerful local group. It is about addressing challenging issues such as the lack of childcare for young mothers, for example, who are trying to take part in language courses and advance themselves. As there are so many elements to integration and 125,000 people to reach, we need to have a fund on a bigger scale than the one the Minister of State is now trying to manage. I call for that strategy to be brought forward quickly in order that we can see genuine innovation in this space beyond what is already being done.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I do not have enough time to list all the things we are doing, but we have a range of funds, including local funds and national funds. For example, the grants under the national integration fund and the asylum migration fund will be announced in the first quarter of next year. There are many other important initiatives. Each local authority has a local economic and community plan. They should be addressing migrant integration in that space. We have funding rolled out to local authorities to appoint local authority integration teams. Some of them have started that process and some teams are in place.

We are now seeing Ukrainians joining the community employment and Tús schemes, which fall under one of my other Departments, namely, the Department of Social Protection. There are 145 on CE schemes and 277 on Tús. The right to work after six months has made an enormous difference to the integration of international protection applicants. It has probably been one of the most positive policy changes in recent years. It is assisting integration. More than 16,000 Ukrainians are in employment and we are endeavouring to boost that number.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the reference to flexibility in the context of Tús and community employment. That can be a win-win, given that many voluntary schemes are struggling to find participants. Perhaps the Minister of State should look at partnership companies specifically. In my area on the north side of Dublin, they are trying to deliver services to support families, but they are very overstretched. As they have that infrastructure and experience, this might be a resource that could effectively channel money from the Government into programmes.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I am happy to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of partnership companies. They are probably one of our key partners on the ground that are facilitating integration, particularly through the social inclusion and community activation programme. We have an additional €10 million allocation for work with Ukrainians and international protection applicants that we secured last year, but also for 2024. In addition to that, we secured an increase in the budget of 6% under SICAP. I acknowledge the amazing work being done by SICAP via local development companies throughout the country.

I will briefly mention an interesting initiative that ETBs in Cork and Dublin have established to assist international protection applicants and Ukrainians who have qualifications in the areas of gynaecology, palliative care, neurology or dermatology, as well as paramedics and physiotherapists, to improve their English language skills in order that they can go more directly into the labour market at their level. There are many initiatives across several Departments that are doing really good work. The development of the new national integration strategy will allow us to build on them and respond, particularly in the context of the past 18 months and the challenges they have brought.