Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators for their contributions. The generosity expressed in this room is reciprocated all over the country. I know it is appreciated. I know that from Ukrainians who just turned up at my Department in the early days of the crisis because that is where they were directed to. I had a chance to meet and have a brief conversation with them and I also met Ukrainians in my constituency of Dublin West today. There is a real sense of gratitude and acknowledgement of how the Irish people are seeking to support them in their time of absolute crisis.

Senator Malcolm Byrne made a very important point in terms of Russians and Belarussians who are living in Ireland. We have small but vibrant communities of Russians and Belarusians in this country. In a local school in Clonsilla, I met a young man whose parents were Ukrainian who was asking what the Government was doing at that time, but his teachers also made the point that there are Russian kids in that school as well and they are trying to manage the dialogue in the schoolyard and everywhere else. It is important to state that every day we see images from Moscow and St. Petersburg of Russian citizens being hauled away in vans. They have been so brave to go out, knowing what their government is like and what awaits them once they get into the van to be taken to the prison. There are incredibly brave Russians and Belarussians out there as well and we must remember that in our dialogue.

There has been a lot of discussion on how the Government action is being co-ordinated and I wish to provide as much clarity on that as I can. Our response to the crisis in Ukraine, but in particular the humanitarian element here, is an all-of-government response. It is being co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach. My Department is responsible for the emergency accommodation needs and the integration supports, but every Department must play and is playing a role. My Department does not have expertise in education, health or transport supports.

I will try to respond to the questions. Senator Conway gave me a long list of questions, as have others - rightly so. I understand that people have questions. We have created a Ukraine unit now in the Department. It is primarily focused on the immediate accommodation response.

Senator Sherlock said the response has been patchy in places. There is always a risk of getting defensive in times like this. I am sure it has been imperfect. To be honest, it is going to continue to be imperfect in the short term and probably in the medium term as well.

Senator Garvey made the point that we are creating a system that has never been demanded at such a scale and needed so quickly. That is what we are doing: we are creating an entirely new system. A temporary protection directive is something we have never had to deal with before. We are experiencing numbers we have never had to deal with before. It is going to be imperfect, but the advocacy of Deputies, Senators and councillors will remind my Department and other Departments where we are not providing the best service and that will enable us to improve. I hope everybody can work in that way and that where the system is not perfect, we do not turn it into a political football, we highlight it and we seek to address it as quickly as possible.

I wish to address a couple of issues. Senators Mullen and Currie spoke about trafficking and the like. What I can speak to there is that so far 22 unaccompanied minors have arrived in this country. Any unaccompanied minor who arrives in this country falls within the responsibility of Tusla, and it took care of each of the 22 minors. Of those, 12 were subsequently reunited with family members in Ireland and the remaining ten are now in the care of Tusla. Tusla has a presence at Dublin Airport. I will come back to that, but it is important to say the vast majority, 85%, of those arriving in the country are coming through Dublin Airport. Rosslare Europort and Shannon Airport have seen the next highest numbers, but they are dramatically smaller volumes. That could change, but that is the situation at the moment. That is why the hub was put in Dublin Airport rather than elsewhere. We are establishing one in Rosslare currently. I accept the argument in terms of Shannon versus Limerick, but there is also a significant number of people living in Limerick city at the moment and in the surrounding areas and easy access is the main concern. Up to this point, only 450 people out of 10,000 have come in through Shannon Airport. Of course, that could change, and we can change the arrangement if the need arises. We must remember that we are only 28 days into this situation. We had to deploy staff where they were most effective. We are growing the Ukraine unit and we will continue to grow it as much as possible. All support for that is appreciated.

The Ukrainian Government has written to us about adoption and to ensure that the crisis is not used to allow adoptions to be rushed through. That is a pro formaapproach, but we will respond to it on an official basis.

In terms of education, my Department will facilitate access to the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme and the national childcare scheme through the sponsorship model. We will provide additional funding, as is necessary. We will provide childcare providers with Ukrainian language resources for those who want to sign up, but also supports for early years professionals in terms of basic Ukrainian they can use with young children. We are also providing play facilities in some of the larger reception facilities that may be needed. We are also looking to link parents in with parent and toddler groups around the country to provide early engagement and a bit of relaxation for parents. That is something that is important.

The Department of Education is looking at capacity around the country right now. There are areas of high demand for places. There are also parts of the country where there is not demand, and we will be seeking in the medium term to link housing provision with that, but it will not always match perfectly. There is ongoing work to do in that regard. An example was given of 30 in a school. I can understand how that is a big challenge for one school. The Department of Education is providing information to schools in terms of how they facilitate the registration of Ukrainian students at primary and post-primary level. The Department of Education is also looking to make it easier for Ukrainian teachers to get registered here through the Teaching Council and to simplify that process. I know a number of professional and regulatory bodies are doing that, in recognition that many Ukrainians do want to work and that is certainly the message that I received.

In terms of higher education, the education and training boards are providing free English language classes and that is a welcome step. They are also looking at trying to link people in where there are existing skills gaps. They are also looking at tweaking the Erasmus programme in terms of perhaps allowing Ukrainian third level students to constitute time spent here as an Erasmus year. That is something that is being done at a European level. Students may also qualify for European funding as well. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, made some points in that regard.

I am following up on the driver's licence issue raised by Senator Conway. It was raised earlier today, and I have been in contact with colleagues in the Department of Transport. We are following up on that and I hope we will have clarity on it soon.

The yellow letter, as it is called, is the letter from the Department of Justice that indicates someone is a beneficiary of the temporary protection directive. That is for one year initially. The European Commission may decide to extend the temporary protection directive for up to three years, but the initial grant of temporary protection is for one year and that is what applies.

In terms of the community response, I have spoken to some Deputies and Senators, and I am aware there are concerns that a set of supports is not in place in some areas where Ukrainians have arrived. It is the case that supports are not everywhere right now. We are working to address that and to activate local authorities. In particular, we are looking at the model that was used during Covid based on community fora, which worked well in terms of local authorities bringing together the HSE, Tusla and the local development companies, LDCs.I refer to all these existing networks that are linked in to what is happening on the ground in a particular community. That process is beginning. I accept there is more work to be done but there is that desire across all areas for people to do so. Senator O'Loughlin made reference to that and highlighted the issue of that wider community engagement.

Ukraine is facing a crisis of unimaginable proportions. The European Union is stepping up in terms of making generous provision for Ukrainian refugees when they come to member states and Ireland welcomes that. Ireland will do everything that it can to continue that generosity - a generosity that is at EU level but is also a manifestation of the innate generosity we have always shown when it comes to international crises.

Due to the scale of this situation and because of the speed at which the very large demand is coming to us, our response is being developed. We do not have the full plan today. We will not have a full plan for a number of weeks but we are developing it. We are acting to meet the most urgent needs that people have right now in terms of accommodation, safety and shelter. That is what we are meeting immediately. We are giving people the provisions in terms of linking in to social welfare so that they have some element of income to support themselves and we will continue to link in to all the other social supports that all of us here take for granted.

We are 28 days in. There is much more work to do but my Department and all of government will work with all Senators and Deputies of all parties and none to make sure we can do the very best job for Ukrainians in this country.