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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Anita McSorley

Ukrainian refugees 'returned' to temporary accommodation by Irish hosts ‘unable to cope’

Some Ukrainian refugees who were allocated Irish host families have been “returned” to temporary accommodation.

Volunteers have told how they fear that some families taking in refugees "don't know what they're getting into" after certain hosts admitted to them that they are "unable to cope".

Tricia Nolan told the Irish Times: “We’ve already had people brought back here and that’s really tough, because then those refugees have to be sent to new accommodation for the second time.”

READ MORE: Ireland needs to build 35,000 homes for Ukrainian refugees as Defence Forces start erecting temporary tents

Ms Nolan is based in the Citywest conference centre in Dublin, which is currently being used as temporary housing for new arrivals.

It’s understood the conference hall has been set up with 100 beds where refugees awaiting accommodation can stay for up to 24 hours.

Around 600 Ukrainians are arriving into Ireland every day, with more than 15,000 already in the State.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said up to 200,000 could arrive here following the Russian invasion.

He said the Government plans to use emergency powers to build “temporary or semi-permanent” accommodation to help.

Speaking at a housing summit in Croke Park on Tuesday, he said: "I would expect that in the next week or two that I will be bringing forward some further emergency measures in relation to construction.

"Right now, we are bringing forward a memo on Ukraine and how we meet over the medium- to longer-term the needs of the refugees that are coming in here and how we can do that to make sure that we protect Housing for All and continue to want to drive down our homeless numbers within the system here.

"So it will require things to be built differently. I will be looking at using emergency powers under the Planning Act to grant the permissions where we need them for temporary- or semi-permanent accommodation.

"We've never had an influx of people like this in such a short space of time.”

The Department of Housing previously forecast that up to 35,000 permanent homes will be required for Ukrainian refugees.

It comes as the Defence Forces continue erecting tented accommodation at a campsite in Grangegorman, Co Meath.

The Government has been scrambling to find accommodation amid fears that the number arriving could exceed capacity in hotels, B&Bs and private houses.

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