Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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251. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide a national breakdown of the number of accommodation places that each local authority has secured and made available to refugees from Ukraine in each month since February 2022 by local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48669/22]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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252. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide a national breakdown of the number of offers of accommodation that have been received by local authorities from members of the public for refugees from Ukraine to Ireland since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, by local authority; the number of these that have been secured and made available to Ukrainian families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48670/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection Directive by the European Union shortly afterwards, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-governmental response to the Ukraine crisis.

The operational challenges brought about by responding to the conflict are significant. Our country has never experienced an influx of displaced persons like the one that we have seen over the past months.

My Department’s role is focused on the immediate, short-term accommodation needs of those who have fled here. To date, more than 50,000 people have arrived in Ireland and in excess of 39,000 of those have been referred to us seeking accommodation from the State.

Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe for all those who require it remains immensely challenging. Due to the urgent need to source accommodation, a broad range of accommodation types have been contracted, including emergency accommodation.

The priority is to place people fleeing the conflict in safe and secure accommodation.

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.

I thank the Deputy for the clarification that she provided to my officials specifying that this question relates to pledged accommodation only.

I can inform the Deputy of the overall position with regard to the involvement of the local authorities in activation of pledged accommodation.

A total of 10,485 properties were notified to Local Authorities and NGOs working with them to activate them.

Of these, 5,377 can been excluded because they have been subsequently withdrawn, uncontactable or otherwise deemed unsuitable when investigated. Of the remaining pledges a total of 5,108, 1,680 have been taken up by beneficiaries with the remainder still being progressed by implementation partners, both Local Authorities and NGOs where this is possible. It is expected that not all of those remaining pledges will result in beneficiary placement for various reasons. There are over 4,500 beneficiaries in pledged accommodation to date and this increases every day.

1,680 properties have been activated, as set out below.

*Activation refers to placement of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection into pledged properties