Words: Eva O’Beirne
The payment would aim to cover the extra costs, such as increased utility bills, arising in households as a result of hosting refugees.
The Irish Government is currently considering proposals to pay volunteers who host Ukrainian refugees in their homes up to 400 euro per month. A formal government decision is expected within the next two weeks.
Yesterday it was revealed that 12,000 pledges of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees have fallen through, either because the offer has been withdrawn or the owner of the household cannot be contacted.
The Government was told on Wednesday evening that there could be 29,000-33,000 people seeking accommodation by the end of next month, and that people could be waiting for weeks before receiving accommodation unless thousands more beds are sourced.
At present, there are 24,438 Ukrainians in Ireland with over a thousand being accommodated in emergency beds. This is out of a total of 2,325 such beds available across the State. Once hotels and B&Bs are approved, this will raise the number of beds available to 10,500.
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