The number of Ukrainians seeking accommodation in Ireland will exceed 70,000 by the end of the year, according to the government.
A county-by-county breakdown shows a wide disparity in the number of people housed in different areas of the country.
In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Department for Integration said it expects the number of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland to exceed 70,000 by the end of 2022.
Liam O’Dwyer, general secretary of the Irish Red Cross, said the level of attacks in Ukraine, coupled with the low temperatures during the winter months, could lead to more people fleeing.
“The reports that we are getting from the Ukraine Red Cross would indicate the level of attacks on Ukraine, particularly into urban areas and the plummeting temperatures. You can expect temperatures of -15 degrees Celsius in Ukraine over the coming months, so it’s fairly understandable that people would feel that they need to move out of that into a more stable environment,” Mr O’Dwyer said, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne programme, Mr O’Dwyer said Ireland would be under “very serious pressure” in April, when hotel and hostel accommodation will be required for the tourist season.
“I think where you have 34,000 to 35,000 people from Ukraine living in the hotels and hostels and if any of that accommodation is required to come back on stream for tourists come March/April, that’s where you will see a real problem,” he said, reports RTE.
Currently, he said, there are 9,000 people in guaranteed housing and “it should grow in the next two or three months.”
Added to this, he said, is the very high number of non-Ukrainians who request international protection.
Asked if he thinks individuals and communities should have the right to be consulted when large numbers of people are moved into the area, O’Dwyer said: “This is an emergency but in the normal circumstances of course, people should be consulted and discussions need to take place because that’s how you enable integration. You enable it by one community welcoming another community,” reports RTE.
He said “it is much more difficult” for the consultation to take place to the extent that it could if the situation were not an emergency.
Meanwhile, Rosslare Harbor Friends of Ukraine president Sean Boyce said the number of arriving refugees was sporadic, with only four arriving in Rosslare today.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, he said it is more difficult for people to get to Ireland having to travel with changing weather conditions and the difficulties of leaving the Ukraine with less transport to get to Cherbourg in France to get to the ferry.
He said there are some areas of Ireland that have more refugees than others, such as Wexford, the southwest and west coast and Donegal, but other areas such as the Midlands host fewer people.
According to RTE, Mr Boyce said: “A lot of coastal areas are quite tourist reliant and a lot of tourist properties would have been taken up in March and April when this first started. So, it’s been a natural flow to those areas since. But I think if we want to share a little bit more, it might take a little bit of pressure off those communities.”
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