Micheál Martin has acknowledged the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is “very serious” and is set to be “an ongoing one” - despite Russian hopes for a quick victory.
And the Taoiseach said that Ireland should prepare to play its part in welcoming a “significant” number of refugees fleeing the murderous war.
Mr Martin was speaking as it emerged that over one million Ukrainian nationals have already crossed over borders into western European countries.
And United Nations estimates briefed to Cabinet say that we could be seeing four million fleeing Ukraine.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, told reporters on Tuesday that, based on numbers of one million, Ireland should be ready to provide sanctuary to 20,000 refugees.
A crucial EU Justice and Home Affairs committee is meeting today to discuss the humanitarian crisis and it is being attended by Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee.
It is expected that a joint EU-wide response to the humanitarian and growing refugee crisis will be discussed in depth.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning at the launch of Census 2022, the Taoiseach told the Irish Mirror: “This will be a european-wide response, it will be a shared burden, I don’t like using the word burden, that’s not how I see it, Irish people want to provide help, we want to provide aid as quickly and as comprehensively as we can.”
Mr Martin added: “The figures will be very high.
“I think we can spend all day calculating, estimating what the figure will be, I think we have to take it now that we have to plan for a very serious situation, an ongoing one, and therefore we’ll have to take it on a phased basis….. I’m not going to get into figures any further because it can grow and escalate, we’re taking a step by step approach, but it will be significant.”
