The Integration Minister said the government is aware that tent accommodation is not the best way to deal with the recent increase in the number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
However, Roderick O’Gorman said the government was investigating and discussing other tent sites and their use in the coming months could not be ruled out as winter approaches.
Mr O’Gorman said people moving into tents at the Electric Picnic site in Stradbally, Co Laois, this week will stay there for a maximum of six weeks but added that other such sites are being sought.
He confirmed that he is in touch with the organizers of the National Plowing Championship which will be held later this month, and with several major sports organizations who have provided support in the past but are currently unable to provide such support.
Mr O’Gorman said other locations are being explored, but he could not say where at this stage.
He said: “We continue to engage in providing temporary solutions like those provided in Stradbally and those more long-term solutions as well, such as bringing more traditional accommodation online for Ukrainians,” reports RTE.
He said the number of people arriving from Ukraine peaked at 650 a week in July and now stands at around 500 a week who need immediate accommodation.
“We have seen that increase over the summer months and that’s put us under particular pressure. At the same time, we’re also looking to move people on from student accommodation, which we used over the summer period, as I suppose a kind of a stopgap measure,” he said, reports RTE.
About 2,800 people have been moved from dorms to more long-term housing in the past four weeks, O’Gorman said.
The Stradbally facility will be used for the next six weeks by those unable to secure accommodation and can accommodate up to 750 Ukrainians, including families.
He said that as of this afternoon, there are currently about 50 Ukrainians on the site.
Thomas Cosby, the owner of Stradbally Hall, recently acknowledged that community engagement has not been a priority in Co Laois due to the short time frame in which the agreement was made. He was asked about the topic of local engagement and expressed that it had fallen to the bottom of the list.
Mr O’Gorman said: “We had to move very quickly in the context of the use of the Stradbally site because of the need to move Ukrainians out of student accommodation so that students can use them,” reports RTE.
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