Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1953. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to outline the occupancy rates of modular homes built for Ukrainian refugees since their completion on each site; the number that have been vacant by month; and the plans in place to use any vacant units for homeless Irish persons, in tabular form. [41220/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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To date, 572 units across 10 Rapid Build sites have been completed on a phased basis since 2023. A further 62 modular units were delivered at Columb Barracks, Mullingar under a Proof-of-Concept project which commenced in 2023 and was completed in 2024.

While all units are fully occupied when a site is first populated, vacancies can arise in individual units such as where a family opts to surrender their unit for more independent living in the State or to return to the Ukraine.

It is my Department’s policy to maximise the occupation of each of our modular sites. This is achieved through a process which includes the selection of families from our commercial accommodation portfolio and subsequent interviews for assessment of suitability by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). While this process happens at scale when a newly developed site is first populated, my Department also maintains a list of preselected families to occupy vacant units as they arise.

All modular sites are managed by an Approved Housing Body (Tuath Housing) who have a surrendering process in place for families intending to leave their assigned unit. A unit is only vacant for a short period of time to allow Tuath to prepare the unit for reallocation and are generally re-occupied within a 2-3 week period to allow sufficient notice for newly arriving families to prepare for the moves.

The table below sets out the numbers of units vacated and re-allocated at each of the sites across our modular portfolio. There have been a total of 68 re-allocations since 2023 and there are a further 10 units across 8 modular sites currently in the process of reallocation.

Each of the Rapid Build sites and the modular development at Columb Barracks are currently exempt from planning permission requirements under the arrangements in place to accommodate people fleeing the war in Ukraine. The units can, therefore, only be used for this purpose currently. This exemption will apply for as long as the Temporary Protection Directive is in place.

A multi-stakeholder process commenced in March this year, chaired by officials from my department and including representation from the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to determine the long-term strategy for the sites post temporary protection. In tandem with the consideration of the feasibility of potential future uses, this work will explore planning regularisation at each site.