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The government has announced the locations of the first five reception centres designed to cater for Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) arriving in Ireland.
The Department of Integrations says the centres will be focused on “orientation on living and working in Ireland and the options for sourcing accommodation independently”.
The five locations are:
As of Thursday Ukrainians who apply for BOTB status and state provided accommodation will only be housed for a period of 90-days.
The Department said that, “Standard social welfare payments will no longer be available to a person while they are resident in Designated Accommodation Centres.”
“They will be entitled to a reduced weekly allowance of €38.80 per adult and €29.80 per child in respect of daily expenses, while they are resident in Designated Accommodation Centres. Entitlement to Child Benefit is not affected by these changes.” it said.
“When they leave the Designated Accommodation Centre, or if they make their own accommodation arrangements on arrival, they will be entitled to apply for standard social welfare assistance, equivalent to Irish citizens subject to meeting the eligibility conditions.”
The department says these modifications to the supports put in place for Ukrainian BOTPs was necessary to “align more closely with other EU Member States”.
Further announcements as to the location of more reception centres are to be announced once finalised.
As Gript previously reported, over €750,000,000 euro has been spent in social welfare payments for Ukrainians fleeing their homeland since March 2022.
In January this year The Irish Mirror reported figures which were released from the Department of Social protection showing that €754,169,000 was paid from March 2022 to the end of last month to BTOPs (beneficiaries of temporary protection) from Ukraine.
Of this €481.6 million was paid in job seekers allowance while €81.4 million was paid to persons over the age of 66 years through the state’s pension scheme.
€60.4 million was paid out in child benefit with Ukrainian refugees receiving €140 per month per child.
Last October an Oireachtas briefing paper which came to light showed that Ireland had the highest payments for Ukrainian BOTPs at €220 per week while 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.
Since then it was decided that new arrivals from Ukraine will no longer be entitled to the generous payments and will receive the same amount as international protection applicants living in state provided accommodation of of €38.80 per adult and €29.80 per child per week,
Approximately 100,000 Ukrainians have come to Ireland since March 2022 with new information showing that 53% say they wish to stay in Ireland permanently.
Reporting for Gript Maria Maynes wrote: “The share of Ukrainians who plan to stay in Ireland on a permanent basis has increased from 41 per cent to 53 percent. That is according to the largest survey to date of Ukrainians living in Ireland, carried out by the charity Ukrainian Action in January.”
“8,329 Ukrainians were represented in the survey, which gained responses from 4,678 adults and 3,651 children living in Ukraine, via social media, Telegram chats and groups, personal messages, and printed QR codes. The total number of respondents represents 10 percent of all Ukrainians who are staying in Ireland.”
“Responses were received from all counties in Ireland, ranging from Dublin (902 responses) to Longford (38 responses) for the survey, which is the third carried out by Ukrainian Action.”
Read the full report here.
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