An Independent TD has written to Social Protection Minister, Heather Humphreys, saying that Irish people face discrimination when accessing the State’s back-to-work schemes, because they must be unemployed for a full year before accessing such schemes while Ukrainian nationals only need to wait nine months.
Marc MacSharry said that it had been brought to his attention “by a number of community employment supervisors who are running very successful community employment schemes around the country, that Irish citizens are being discriminated against when it comes to filling community employment placements”.
“This is due to the fact that the qualifying period for eligibility for community employment has been reduced from 12 months to 9 months for Ukrainian nationals, whereas, Irish citizens have to wait a further 3 months on the welfare payment before they can be considered for a CE placement, which is highly discriminatory,” he wrote.
The Sligo TD said he was not aware of “any other country in the EU who are disadvantaging their own citizens when it comes to government back to work supports”.
And he urged Minister Humphreys “in the interest of fairness” if she would take “immediate remedial action” to “urgently re-establish the same qualifying period for all applicants”.
In his letter to the Minister, Deputy MacSharry said that the “favouritism” shown to Ukrainians did also not apply to any other non-nationals, adding: “I very much regret the reality that this favouritism towards Ukrainian nationals only serves to fuel resentments, undermine solidarity and nurtures ethnic intolerance in local communities.”
The Department of Social Protection said that “to support the integration of Ukrainian nationals residing here, the qualifying period for eligibility for community employment schemes has been reduced from 12 months to nine months”.
“The eligibility criteria for community employment are kept under active review by the department. Minister Humphreys and Minister Joe O’Brien will continue to support and improve the programme for the benefit of the participants,” it added.
Previously, Deputy MacSharry, said that it is discriminatory that third-level students from Ukraine can go to university for free in Ireland, and avail of free accommodation without means testing, while this is not available to Irish students.
Speaking to Gript, the Independent TD said that the full supports put in place by the government to assist Ukrainian students were not also all available to Irish students and that this was a form of discrimination.
“If I’m coming from the Ukraine, without any means test, all my children can get into UCD free, with free accommodation,” Deputy MacSharry had said. “But if I’m coming from a working class family in Co Wicklow, I cannot”. The Independent TD described the differences as “discrimination”.
All students who come from Ukraine and enter full-time higher education are entitled to a suite of supports without being means tested, including free tuition, accommodation, and a monthly stipend.
Ukrainian students are entitled to free tuition and do not have to pay the Student’s Contribution of between €2,000 and €3,000 per year. Tuition is also free for Irish students – but unless a means tested grant is available, the Student Contribution must be paid.
In addition, Ukrainian students who are “pursuing or progressing in a full-time approved course in a publicly funded higher education institution will be supported financially through a monthly stipend”, the Department of Further and Higher Education says. “The stipend amount will be €1,150 per month and will be paid to the student through their higher education institution’s International Office”.
Support for full time Postgraduate fees are also available to students from Ukraine – with payment of tuition fees up to a maximum €6,270. If a Ukrainian student wishes to pursue a Post Leaving Cert course then they can avail of a bursary of €6,115 in the 2023/24 academic year.
In January of this year, Department of Social Protection secretary general John McKeon told the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that around 17,000 Ukrainians – some 30 per cent of adults from that country living in Ireland – are in employment – a figure he described as “extraordinarily high” given childcare needs.