Written answers

Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Immigration Support Services

Photo of Aindrias MoynihanAindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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170. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of applications received from those volunteering to house Ukrainian refugees; the number of these applications that have been processed; if there is a surplus or deficit of living space to adequately house Ukrainians in reasonable accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28345/22]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Government is committed to delivering a humanitarian response to welcome people seeking protection in Ireland as part of the European Union's overall response. The scale of response to this crisis has been unprecedented and Irish people have displayed an incredible level of generosity in their support and pledges of accommodation.

The Irish Red Cross has put in place a national pledge as the mechanism for channeling the offers of accommodation which many members of the public wish to provide. The website through which offers of accommodation are pledged is registerofpledges.redcross.ie. Ove 25,000 offers of accommodation have been pledged by the Irish public through the Irish Red Cross (IRC).

The Department understands that all those who pledged accommodation have been contacted by IRC or those working with them.  My Department receives pledges which it understands can be activated from IRC and passes these to local Implementing Partners to advance the placement of Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection. Implementing partners include Local Authorities, IRC, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), and Peter McVerry Trust. Over 4,700 pledged properties have been notified to implementing partners. 1180 Beneficiaries have been matched to 424 of these properties. Placement of people in need into pledged properties also occurs outside the pledged process.  

In addition to the pledged accommodation my Department is working as part of a cross-government effort to provide short-term accommodation to those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. To date in excess of 23,000 people have been referred to my Department for accommodation.

It is difficult to say if there is a surplus or deficit as described by the Deputy.

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