Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader arrange a debate with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth regarding the reports over the past number of days about Ukrainian citizens who do not have accommodation? It is important to recognise that although it is a difficult situation for people who come into this country, 52,000 have come from Ukraine and they have been housed and protected through a range of measures. The support that the Irish people have given in opening their homes to Ukrainian citizens for an indefinite period needs to be recognised. There are challenges, which will be greater over the next couple of months. Those challenges are no different here than in other countries. The Czech Republic is only double the size of Ireland and has taken in 400,000 people. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, has increased its population by 25% in six months. It is not as though they have all the houses to be able to accommodate everyone. The people who are fleeing Ukraine are not looking for protection. What they are looking for is safety and education for their children.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland has my full support and I admire her hugely but I was deeply disappointed by her comments at the weekend when she said that the people of Ukraine were not warned about the housing situation in Ireland. That is just not the case. The ambassador has been told that the housing situation is a real challenge in Ireland for Ukrainians coming. The four Ukrainians Members of Parliament who spoke in this Chamber, which has played a key role in building relationships between both parliaments, knew that the two serious challenges that we in this country have regarding Ukrainians were housing and childcare. That is why those MPs left this country, went to the UK and put huge pressure on Michael Gove who was Minister at the time, to open up the UK's borders more to relieve some of the pressures that Ireland was under. The ambassador has my support always but in this aspect her comments were not factually true and were unhelpful in many ways. It is important that we a debate here, especially on the modular units. Seven modular units are meant to be up and ready. One is in Thurles, County Tipperary. We were informed of that approximately six weeks ago. We have heard nothing about it since. The people in Thurles and in County Tipperary would like to support that modular unit going up but it needs to be done quickly. The engagement with the public in Thurles needs to happen as well. Can we have a debate here as a matter of urgency?