Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome our guests. The Minister is welcome to the House. I wish her well in her new portfolio. She will have a busy couple of years, but we are here to support and help her in any way we can. I acknowledge the work she did on St. Patrick's Day – not everyone sees those ministerial duties being carried out. I had the privilege of being in London and the UK Parliament where she represented Ireland and the Government abroad. She spoke incredibly well on behalf of the people of Ireland at a number of events. She spoke about the opportunities we have in being an open economy and about bringing business to Ireland. She also spoke to the diaspora in the UK. I acknowledge her work in that regard and thank her for it.

The Fine Gael party supports the motion. This is an important initiative that was brought forward in March 2022 when the war in Ukraine began. As other speakers said, if it were not for the generosity of people across this country in opening their homes and vacant houses to help Ukrainians fleeing a dreadful war, things would have been difficult. People did that not knowing for how long they would be doing it. We sometimes forget that. We thought the war could last one or two weeks, or perhaps a month or two. People took in Ukrainians who they never met in their lives and did not know without any consideration for long they would stay. Some people have been in the same home with the same family for three years. There has been no question of changing the arrangement and families continue to support Ukrainians regardless.

This is a good initiative that supports such arrangements. As Senator O'Loughlin indicated, it is a goodwill gesture. People do not do this for the money. Rather, they do it because of their humanity in wanting to help fellow citizens across the world who are being displaced due to an unjust war. Obviously, it is important that we extend the scheme.

The scheme will come under the remit of the Department of Justice in the future. It is to be hoped we will not have an issue in a year's time. There was some uncertainty over the past couple of weeks about whether the scheme would be extended. We all knew it would be, but we should halt that uncertainty if the scheme needs to be extended next year. We had elections and Government formation, as well as other issues in the Lower House to deal with, but it is important that we do not leave things until the last week. I totally understand why that was the case this year.

As the Minister stated, this is a recognition payment for families and people who are opening up their homes. It saves the State a great deal of money. The State is saving €1 million to €2 million per day through people offering their homes rather than using alternative accommodation. While we have spent over €250 million on the scheme, if it was not in place, the cost of alternative accommodation would be close to €1 billion at this stage. The scheme is to be welcomed and supported. We all know families across the country, including in my county, Tipperary, who have done phenomenal work to support Ukrainians. Many Ukrainians are working in towns and villages across the country and play a vital role in our economy.

As the Minister knows from her previous role as Minister for Education, over 70,000 Ukrainian children are going to school across Ireland. They are learning and continuing to develop and progress. They have integrated really well into schools. There is a small school in my tiny village in Tipperary where it has been positive for the Irish kids in the school to experience people from other countries, backgrounds and viewpoints and the challenges they face. It develops our children who may not have experienced such diversity in a very positive sense.

It is important to reiterate what the Minister said. The motion is about whether we will extend the scheme. That is what we are deciding on today. I totally support extending the scheme. It is important that we do that. A number speakers referred to the proposal to reduce the payment of €800 to €600. We have to remember that the payment was originally €400. It is not the case that we are reducing the payment dramatically. It is a tax-free payment. Essentially, it is the equivalent of a normal rental property of over €1,000 per month because most people who rent properties pay 50% tax on rental payments. It remains an attractive payment.

We do not want to wind the scheme down any time soon, but we need to begin the process given that many Ukrainians are now leaving and the numbers coming in have reduced. In that sense, I understand why we need to change the scheme in line with the current situation.

The Minister said the scheme is being changed in part to address concerns of those in the private rental market. We know from a Red Cross report and our communities that most people availed of the scheme out of the goodness of their hearts and that it had nothing to do with getting money or their being landlords in the rental sector. I would be interested in knowing from where the concerns expressed by the Department of housing are coming.

Leaving that aside, the scheme is being amended in line with the changing dynamics and the change in the number of Ukrainians we have in the country. This is the beginning of the process of winding down the scheme. A payment of €600 tax-free for any individual who is taking in Ukrainians is an attractive amount of money for people to receive. We support the scheme. I thank the Minister for her contribution.