Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said financial support to people in Ireland who host refugees may encourage more to reconsider housing Ukrainians fleeing the war.
It comes as Government Ministers have been told there will be a shortage of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees here by the end of this month.
It has emerged that more than half of the 24,000 pledges of accommodation through the Red Cross have not been successful with many withdrawing their offer.
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Speaking to reporters at Government Buildings on Thursday, Minister McEntee said financial support might be an option “if we get to a situation where we want to encourage more people to offer up accommodation.”
She said she would support the move to pay people.
She said: “We’re very aware that there’s an increase in costs in electricity and fuel, even in food prices.
“So I think what we’d have to establish is how we would cover those costs.
“I don’t think anybody’s looking to make money out of this. Certainly not. It’s that we would cover those day-to-day costs.
“That’s something Government has said we’d be open to and it’s something that’s been explored at the moment.”
When asked if financial support could encourage people who have withdrawn accommodation offers to reconsider, she said: “It might do indeed.”
She said: “Perhaps it’s something that might encourage more people, yes.”
Cabinet heard on Wednesday night that there will be a shortage of accommodation by the end of April based on the assumption of 400 arrivals every day with a minimum of 75% and a maximum of 100% seeking accommodation here until the end of June.
On that basis, Mr Martin told Cabinet there will have been between 29,000 and 33,000 people seeking accommodation.
Despite the pressure on Government to secure adequate accommodation for refugees, Minister McEntee said the Government has been clear that they will not turn people away and will not put a cap on the number of Ukrainian refugees coming to Ireland.
When asked about her own situation and whether she will host a Ukrainian refugee at her home in Co Meath, Minister McEntee said she is still considering the matter.
She explained: “My own situation is somewhat challenging, I’ve spoken to a lot of people in the past who have supported refugees and given the location I live in and the fact we need people to access travel, it’s something that I’m still considering at the moment because I have to make sure that people are supported if they were to say in my home and have access to everything they’d need to have access to.”
Integration and Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said that mass accommodation would increasingly be used in response to the crisis.
He told RTÉ, that said such accommodation is “not the preference” but he expects refugees to be there for a “number of weeks”.
“It’s not the gold standard, it’s not what we would like to see everybody living in, but we are in a crisis situation. We’re in a European-wide war, and we are doing our very best to provide shelter and provide safety to Ukrainians.”
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