The Government is working to provide accommodation for 10,000 refugees in refurbished buildings by the end of next year, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar said Ireland was facing a refugee crisis the scale of which could never have been imagined, adding it was hard to estimate when alternative accommodation could be secured for all those currently staying in hotels and B&Bs.
Mr Varadkar was commenting after a cabinet sub-committee was updated on Thursday on efforts to repurpose old buildings into places for migrants to stay.
Attending the official opening of a sports complex in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, on Friday, the Taoiseach also noted progress was being made to construct modular homes for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said.
“We’ve experienced a refugee crisis in Ireland the likes of which we’ve never experienced before, and never imagined.
“Nearly 100,000 people have come to Ireland in the past year, mostly from Ukraine, but also from other parts of the world, and it is actually a considerable achievement that we managed to provide shelter and accommodation for almost all of them.
“We had a very good meeting of the cabinet sub-committee last night so we believe that we can provide about 10,000 bed places, if you like, in refurbished accommodation.
“The modulars are now a reality, the first ones are ready for occupation now in Cork and we’re going to scale them up as well.
“And we now have about 10,000 people living in people’s homes or in homes that were empty and had been pledged for accommodation.
“But the real challenge that we face is that numbers keep coming in. Still people arriving from Ukraine, fleeing war there.
“And of course, like all countries, thousands of people from other parts of the world are seeking international protection here.
“So it’s going to be a real challenge to get ahead of that. Because where we’d like to be is to get ahead of that and be able to start decanting people out of hotels and B&Bs and freeing up that accommodation again for tourism, but hard to see exactly when that’s going to be.”
Asked for a timeline on the provision of the refurbished accommodation, Mr Varadkar said: “Some of them are starting to come on stream at the moment. These are refurbished old buildings that are being brought back into use as accommodation.
“I think the first couple of hundred will be available in the next couple of weeks but the 10,000 figure would be between now and the end of next year.”
On Thursday, ministers at Cabinet agreed to pay €1.5 million to a refugee relocation scheme, instead of following through on a past commitment to take in 350 additional international protection applicants.
Ireland had agreed to take in the 350 applicants almost two years ago, as part of a Europe-wide initiative to ease the burden on Mediterranean countries dealing with an influx of refugees from Africa.
The Government has now opted to make the financial contribution of 1.5 million euro to the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism, instead of taking the refugees.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Varadkar made clear the payment related to a specific initiative, and was not evidence that Ireland could buy its way out of taking more refugees.
“It’s not as simple as that and that’s not how it works,” he said.
“So under European law and under international law people can come here and they can seek international protection and they will continue to do so, whether it’s from Ukraine or whether it’s from other parts of the world.
“(Former US president Donald) Trump tried to build his wall and it didn’t stop people coming. The British left the European Union and they’ve seen record amounts of migration.
“So in the real world, because of international law, because of basic practicalities, people will arrive, and if people come here seeking international protection, we have to assess that application.
“And we have to assess them more quickly because we want to give people who are genuine, refugee status and we also want to say to those who are not that we’ve a rules-based system and that you will have a deportation order served on you if you’re not a genuine refugee, and nearly 500 deportation orders have been signed this year alone, for example.
“In relation to what’s happened around the voluntary mechanism, that was a particular thing.
“So about a year and a half ago really, the Mediterranean countries were under a huge amount of pressure and a lot of migration coming, people off boats from Africa.
“At that time, we weren’t under a lot of pressure. So countries had three choices – either do nothing to help, make a financial contribution or take some of the migrants.
“At the time we said we would take 350, but things have changed since then and we’re not in a position to help other countries in the Mediterranean because we’re under pressure now too.
“So relocation is not something that we’re doing. We’re making a financial contribution instead.
“But whether we like it or not people will still come to Ireland and seek protection. And it’s not something you can buy your way out of.”
