A €400 payment for households who accommodate Ukrainian refugees is expected to go to Cabinet next week, senior Government sources have indicated.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys is working on the payment with Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath and Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Minister Humphreys said: “We hope to have something to bring to Government very shortly, we now have a Cabinet sub-committee set up specifically to deal with the Ukrainian crisis and we’ll be feeding everything in through that. It’ll be shortly, very soon.”
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A senior source said it will be a €400 payment per household and will not depend on the number of Ukrainian refugees a family hosts. And they expect the memo to go before Cabinet next Tuesday if not, it will be the following week.
Minister Humphreys said the payment process will be kept simple.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee had previously said a payment to households may encourage people to come forward and offer accommodation.
She also acknowledged that people are facing a cost-of-living crisis including soaring energy bills.
Minister Humphreys said that almost 27,000 Ukrainians have now been issued with a PPS number after they fled their country.
She said 14,000 refugees that have arrived here are of “working age,” and said a lot of Ukrainians are children.
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