It appears that the coalition government had a “heated” row at the Cabinet meeting yesterday regarding housing support for Ukrainian refugees. The Irish Times said it was a major barney.
Sources familiar with the discussions among ministers characterised it as among “the most divisive, heated discussions” that have taken place at government level since the coalition was formed.
Minister Roderic O’Gorman had apparently encountered “strong pushback” from Fianna Fáil ministers after he brought proposals to Cabinet which would mean that the accommodation currently being provided by the state to Ukrainian refugees would be limited to 90 days before private housing would have to be sought.
The Soldiers of Destiny were having none of it, recognising that O’Gorman’s move would cunningly shift the responsibility to one of their own, namely the Minister for (The Lack of ) Housing, Darragh O’Brien.
An Tánaiste, Micheál Martin became “agitated”, according to reports from the Cabinet meeting. Perhaps he was thinking that the criticism for the appalling mess that Ireland’s asylum system has become was best left directed at the Greens.
Or that, with O’Gorman clearly out of his depth, and migrants now joining the large numbers of Irish people sleeping in tents, this might be an area where Fianna Fáil would be foolish to shoulder responsibility.
What a spokesperson for the Fianna Fáil leader said at a post-Cabinet briefing was even more interesting.
He said the Government wants to move from an emergency phase of helping Ukrainian refuges to a more sustainable model of supports for people fleeing the Russian invasion.
“Ireland is out of step with the rest of Europe, we do offer more than the rest,” he said. “Ireland’s response has been the hallmark response. It’s just about making it sustainable and it’s the right thing for the future,” he added.
The government has known this for a long time. They are not idiots, and have corridors of staff to examine the data and conduct the research which shows that Ireland is indeed “out of step with the rest of Europe”
In fact, I wrote about one such piece of research earlier this month, when a briefing paper – from the Oireachtas Library and Research Service – showed that Ireland has the highest weekly social welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees in the EU. In most cases, accommodation, access to medical care, and other supports are also provided.
As I observed:
In relation to Ireland, [the report] states that Ukrainians living here under the Temporary Protection Directive are entitled to a payment of €220 weekly.
Other EU states and the UK pay between €7.90 and €131.45 per week, with most countries limiting payments where accommodation and supports are provided.
Ireland also offers child benefit on top of the Jobseekers Allowance of €220 per week, and Ukrainian students in Ireland who attend third level courses have access to fee and grant supports. A Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is also available, as is the Carer’s Allowance or Disability Allowance.
In relation to weekly payments to refugees from Ukraine, France offers €47.60 for those accommodated per week, and €99.40 per week for those not accommodated, the briefing paper details.
In Italy, €75 per week is payable for those in independent accommodation. Different but lower rates apply for those staying in State provided facilities, subsidised hotels and with families.
But that briefing paper was first provided on 15 February 2023. This shouldn’t be new information for either Minister O’Gorman or Micheál Martin or their advisers, if they are actually on top of their briefs while splashing out billions on refugee and migrant accommodation and supports.
The Independent reported that: “Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it is “possible” that Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland are coming from other EU states because supports provided to them here are more generous than other countries.”
Mr Martin said a “phenomenon” of people who have fled the war in Ukraine now arriving in Ireland having been based in other European countries is putting pressure on available accommodation but said he could not quantify it.
But the report added: “Around 30pc of these are coming from other EU countries, according to one senior figure” who said “We have a supply challenge and we all need to have an honest, calm conversation.”
It doesn’t take even the giant intellect of a Cabinet Minister to figure out that people would rather come to Ireland and get multiple times the payments they receive elsewhere along with other supports.
In fact, one Ukrainian mother said that Ireland’s generosity might be too much in an interview with Newstalk in October 2022.
The numbers speak for themselves: there are now almost 100,000 refugees from Ukraine in Ireland – while almost 25,000 people claiming to be asylum seekers also being provided with accommodation separately, an enormous jump which has seen that number triple since this month in 2021.
And despite the crisis of accommodation, the upset Irish citizens protesting, the hugely over-stretched services, the enormous walloping given to tourism, and much more, the arrivals continue to pour in.
“There is growing concern across the Coalition about accommodation pressures created by the uptick in numbers of refugees arriving since the summer, with weekly arrivals now averaging around 800 people,” the Independent reported.
The Cabinet can shout at each other and run away from the blame all they want but the fault, to paraphrase the Bard, is not in the stars but in themselves.
You won’t catch the Cabinets of other EU countries bleating helplessly about the obvious folly of refusing to put a limit on who can come here – because they just quietly decided those limits, while we had idiotic politicians boasting about Ireland being the best boys in the EU on asylum.
As my colleague Dr Matt Treacy noted in August, “even in terms of the actual number of refugees, the Irish state has not only taken more in per capita terms than almost every other western state, but has taken more in absolute numbers than most of those, including France – 70,570 (1 per 1,000).”
Now the Cabinet, and Roderic O’Gorman and Micheál Martin in particular, are knocking lumps out of each other verbally because the crisis has become so acute.
But its only 2 and a half years since we saw a surge in non-Ukrainian asylum claimants which seemed to have begun after Minister Roderic O’Gorman tweeted out plans (in proposals available in Albanian, Arabic, Somali, Urdu and Georgian as well as English) to ensure that applicants knew that housing – own door accommodation – was promised within four months, and that medical cards and other services would be made available.
As we have pointed out repeatedly, the largest numbers occupying accommodation for asylum seekers are, in fact, from safe countries like Georgia.
Now, as the coffers of the State begin to feel the pinch of the international financial downturn, and voter seems likely against spending freezes in health, senior members of Cabinet are looking for a fall guy.
But this mess is the fault of the collective Cabinet and the other TDs in Dáil Éireann, including Sinn Féin, who failed to take action when is was obvious that Ireland was full and that we needed to put our own people first. Let there be no evading that responsibility.