LAST UPDATE | 1 Mar 2022

UP TO 20,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine could be taken in by Ireland with the possibility that Irish families may be asked to open their homes, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Speaking to reporters at Dublin Castle today, he said Cabinet had a discussion on the numbers of Ukrainian refugees that Ireland could be asked to accommodate, stating it will “certainly be in the thousands”.

“The EU hasn’t put an ask of countries at the moment but you know the figures in my view will be certainly in the thousands.

“If you were to have an estimate of up to a million people crossing into the EU, and if you look at Ireland’s proportion in terms of population, which is often the allocation key when it comes to financial allocations or whatever, that is about 2 per cent.

“So that’s 20,000 people to start with. I don’t think we should be putting actual numbers on because we don’t know. But certainly I think there was a very clear message in Government today that that we will not be found wanting in terms of generosity here,” Coveney said.

“We are going to have to go beyond providing State-provided accommodation. It will probably have to involve families as well who are willing to open up their homes for a temporary period of time,” he said.

“The response can’t be a normal response. This is war in the heart of Europe, where thousands of people are being slaughtered and killed, where civilians are being targeted, where we we may well see hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Ukrainians fleeing across the border into the EU, and certainly Ireland will have to ensure that we do what’s required of us in terms of sharing that responsibility in terms of how we look after Ukrainians.

“The estimate is that potentially over a million people may cross the border into EU countries, predominantly into Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, which are the four EU countries bordering Ukraine. We’re seeing literally thousands of people by the hour, tens of thousands of people by the hour, I should say, coming into the EU,” he added. 

Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that Ireland must be “generous” in its refugee response to the Ukrainian crisis. 

“The biggest challenge facing us as a country, I believe, is that we must be very, very generous in terms of the refugee crisis that will undoubtedly flow as a result of this war. It will be beyond anything that we’ve comprehended before,” he said. 

I’ve said to my colleagues in government and to departments we must put to one side what we might have considered to be the norms in terms of responding and humanitarian way to the plight of the Ukrainian people.  

‘War time effort’

Coveney earlier used the same language, saying: “This is a war effort, so the norms need to get set aside.”

He said the humanitarian response Ireland will show will be central, stating that it will  demand a level of solidarity, support and generosity.

It is understood that more clarity will be provided on Thursday about the numbers of refugees each EU member state might take in after a meeting of home affairs ministers in Brussels. 

A government spokesperson said that the numbers should be finalised then and it is likely to be “significant”. 

There are some indications that the four million people might leave Ukraine in the next few weeks, with the spokesperson adding that “Ireland will not be found wanting” in terms of the level of humanitarian support it is willing to put forward. 

It is understood that work is already underway as to where Ukrainian refugees will be accommodated. Facilities such as hotels are currently being looked at, said another government spokesperson. 

Justice Minister Helen McEntee told the Dail earlier that 143 people have arrived from Ukraine and availed of the visa waiver system up to 6pm yesterday.

Coveney said the EU is going to suffer due to the sanctions it has imposed on Russia, but added that it is something that the EU is going to have to be willing to take. 

Coveney says Irish families may he asked for open up their homes for a temporary period. pic.twitter.com/juISTDHmSZ

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) March 1, 2022

When The Journal asked Coveney about what contingency plans might be put in place to mitigate the rise in the cost of energy due to the conflict, Coveney said the EU is examining ways to help countries respond.

However, he said no specific proposals have been put forward.

“The European Union at the moment is looking at how we respond to that, whether we can give countries the flexibility to be able to do things that normally wouldn’t be possible at all.

“There is nothing specific being proposed yet, but certainly, Cabinet was updated on the view within the commission that that these are extraordinary times and we will need to ensure that there are extraordinary flexibilities available to member states to protect their own citizens well being and so on,” he said. 

Coveney also confirmed discussions are underway in Brussels about whether or not staff or diplomats in Russian embassies should be expelled.

“Those discussions are actually taking place as we speak now and we may be in a position later on to make decisions on that. But I don’t want to preempt the outcome of those discussions.”

He defended the decision not to expel the Russian ambassador to Ireland, stating that there are hundreds of Irish people living in Russia and between 70 and 80 Irish people still in Ukraine.

“Some of them may well be in parts of Ukraine that are in Russian control in the coming days, we just don’t know. And so I think the right decision here is to is to maintain a diplomatic line of communication between Dublin and Moscow, so that we can protect the interests of our own citizens, whether they be in Russia or Ukraine or anywhere else. And I think even in wartime situations, having that line of communication open makes sense,” he said.

Intimidation of Russians in Ireland

The Journal also asked the minister if he was concerned about reports that some Russians living in Ireland were getting push back from some members of the public regarding their country’s actions. 

In response, Coveney said what’s happening in Ukraine “is not a decision of the Russian people”.

“It’s based on decisions that have come from President Putin and the Kremlin and the people around him. Russian people in Ireland are welcome here. Many of them are outraged by what’s happening, do not support the decisions that their government has made, and indeed, many Russians in Russia, that we’ve seen protesting, and it’s a brave thing to protest on the streets of Moscow or other cities like St. Petersburg and so on.

“We’ve seen Russians come out in their thousands to demand an end to this war and this aggression on Ukraine. So this is not something that Irish people should be targeting Russian people on. This is something that we need to send a very direct messages to Russian decision makers and leaders and to the Kremlin. And I hope that people will make the distinction between those two, because it is not acceptable to be intimidating or targeting Russian people who are living in Ireland. This is not their doing and I think it’s important to say that very directly.”

- With reporting by Rónán Duffy