A €400 MONTHLY payment for households hosting refugees from Ukraine is set to be paid for the first time next month.

The payment, which will be paid on the second Tuesday of each month, can be backdated as far as 4 March in line with how long the accommodation has been provided.

Beginning on 9 August, it is expected to be available until the end of March 2023.

Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman said that “since the start of the Ukrainian crisis and the arrival in Ireland of those fleeing war”, people in Ireland have extended a “warm welcome” to “those in need of shelter and safety”.

“Offers of accommodation from the general public are appreciated and they greatly assist with the challenge of sourcing suitable accommodation for some 40,000 people who have arrived here,” he said.

It’s an opt-in scheme with applications to receive it open from today.

It is available to people who are hosting in their home or in a property that was vacant. It applies both to people who made a hosting arrangement privately and those who made a pledge through the Irish Red Cross.

The payment will not be given to hosts if the host is charging rent but will still be given if the refugees are contributing to costs such as utilities and food.

The government agreed on the payment in May, when the minister said he hoped that it would be paid for the first time by the end of July.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, whose department will oversee the payments, said it recognises “the contribution of those who opened their homes and provided accommodation to people from Ukraine fleeing the war in their country”.

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Refugees who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine have been accommodated in different types of locations – some with households who volunteered to host, others with people known to them, or in accommodation centres.

Local authorities have been asked to identify buildings in their areas that may be suitable to convert for use as accommodation.

The first of 500 modular homes are due to be completed in November.