The Minister of State for Integration, Joe O’Brien, has acknowledged the “undoubted” pressure to house refugees and foresees a problem in the coming weeks and months with the “likely” end of the contracts, reports RTE.
“We don’t have adequate contracts coming on to replace them but there is very intensive work to add more contracts as we go along,” reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Colm Ó Mongáin, Minister O’Brien said the situation is “very pressing” and he did not want to sugarcoat the issue.
“We are not able to accommodate everyone at the moment that is actually looking for shelter,” reports RTE.
He said around 80,000 Ukrainians are seeking refuge in Ireland compared to 8,000 at this time last year.
Minister O’Brien was unable to give a figure for how much the government owes hotels in payments for refugee accommodation.
Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall said she did not underestimate the challenge of hosting refugees and that the large influx of people has added to a housing crisis.
Speaking about the same program, she said that the Government must rise to this challenge and have enough people to handle the situation, reports RTE.
She said she has “a lot of sympathy” for Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman, as she believes it should have been a whole-of-government response rather than her department dealing with it.
She said “staff should have been redeployed from other departments”, reports RTE.
Ms Shortall said it is inexcusable that the government “did not pay its bills” adding that other properties have been identified that would have been suitable for hosting refugees.
Wexford’s Independent TD Verona Murphy said late payments acted as a deterrent to hotels and said the department handling refugee accommodation was overwhelmed.
She said that the issue is not being discussed.
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