Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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673. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 380 of 8 March 2022, the position regarding the request for tender issued by his Department in January 2022 to procure additional accommodation; if the tender will ultimately result in the State owning phase one accommodation as per the white paper recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14413/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As you are aware, Deputy, the Department published a request for tender (RFT) to procure additional International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) accommodation on 18 January 2021. However, this tender does not relate to the contracting of state owned phase one accommodation.

This tender process is a key plank in the Department's strategy to end reliance on emergency accommodation and will assist in alleviating the accommodation pressures currently being experienced.

The compliance evaluation process has been temporarily suspended to redeploy officials to acquiring accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. They will resume the evaluation process as soon as possible.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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674. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if hotels in Cork can be arranged for those travelling from Ukraine with connections in the Cork area. [14414/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I can confirm that accommodation is being made available by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department to Ukrainian refugees in need of accommodation. As of 20 March, 4,481 Ukrainians had sought accommodation from IPAS.

IPAS is providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugee arriving in Ireland through all airports including Cork and is scaling up its operations as the number of arrivals increase.

My officials are actively working to procure accommodation and supports for Ukrainian arrivals to Ireland through hotel accommodation in the first instance and various other accommodation solutions including the repurposing of larger buildings. Accommodation is being sourced across the country where appropriate, including in Cork.

We appreciate that many people may wish to make offers of accommodation to support those persons seeking temporary protection in Ireland. The Government is working with the Red Cross to put in place a national pledge. The website has been launched and is available online through . There has been a remarkable response by the public – already there have been over 20,000 pledges received.

My Department has also published a FAQ document on its website to help aid any questions people may have and more information on supports and services has been published at www.gov.ie/ukraine