Over €354m has been spent on providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees so far this year, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed.
In response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly, the Green Minister confirmed that 14,000 rooms have been acquired by the Department of Integration to date.
This included hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs or any other property not owned by an arm of the State that can be used for “short-term accommodation for Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection fleeing the war in Ukraine”.
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He also confirmed that a “little over” €354m has been paid out by the Department to accommodate Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection and “other related costs”.
Elsewhere, the Department of Social Protection will tell the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday morning that total expenditure to date on welfare supports and services for Ukrainian refugees is estimated to be €196m.
There have been over 42,000 claims by income supports. Over 3,500 people have also received payment for offering their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
Some 12,000 Ukrainian refugees have one to one engagements with the Department of Social Protection case officers, while Revenue records indicate that about 11,200 are now in employment.
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