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LAST UPDATE | 10 Mar 2022
THE GOVERNMENT HAS said it may use “emergency measures” to quickly build modular homes to cater for the people fleeing here from Ukraine.
According to the Irish Red Cross, nearly 12,000 people have so far pledged accommodation to Ukrainian refugees but various other options are being considered.
There is no definitive number on how many refugees may come to Ireland but ministers have said it may number in the tens of thousands.
Among the housing proposals being considered are hotels, modular homes on State land and even Defence Forces facilities.
Modular homes are rapid-build accomodation but in the past they have been criticised for not being value for money in the long-term.
Speaking in the Dail today, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that “different rules” may have to be applied to provide the accommodation required.
“We are going to have to act with real speed. In some instances, that will require the likes of modular housing and applying different rules to what we would ordinarily apply in the planning system,” he said.
We are going to have to act with real speed. In some instances, that will require the likes of modular housing and applying different rules to what we would ordinarily apply in the planning system.
Ryan was responding to questions from Gary Gannon TD of the Social Democrats who had said that there is a “a chronic lack of properties at the moment”.
The minister also spoke about the educational needs of children who have arrived and will be arriving here, stating that work is ongoing to allow Ukrainian teachers enter the education system.
The Ukrainian Minister for Education is talking to our Minister and our Teaching Council to see how Ireland could employ some of the Ukrainian teachers who are coming in, to see how quickly we could establish classes that will give them flexibility in maintaining the Ukrainian curriculum, or to work with our Polish and other colleagues to ensure there is connection between how they are taught in the first number of weeks they may be there before they come to Ireland.
Pledges
The moves come as it was revealed that 11,902 Irish households have pledged to provide accommodation to Ukrainian refugees. Counties Dublin and Cork have the highest recorded pledges, with 2,149 and 1,327 pledges respectively.
The Irish Red Cross has said that approximately 75% of the pledges are for shared accommodation where people have a room to spare.
Donations to the Red Cross have also topped €14 million so far.
A spokesperson for the Irish Red Cross said that they have been “blown away” by the generosity shown by people so far.
“The Irish Red Cross have been blown away by the generosity of the Irish people both from an accommodation pledge point of view and for donating money, they have been simply astonishing,” the spokesperson said.
“We have almost 12,000 pledges of accommodation since just last Friday when we had just 180 offers and to put it in context, it took a few months to reach 1,000 pledges during our Syrian refugee campaign a few years ago.”
Yesterday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that there were approximately 400 Ukrainian refugees arriving into Ireland every day.
It comes as the number of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country due to the Russian invasion today hit 2,316,002, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
This is an increase of 160,731 compared to figures released by the UN yesterday.
“UNHCR needs about $500 million for its emergency work in Ukraine and neighbouring countries,” the agency’s chief Filippo Grandi tweeted Thursday.
“So far we have received over $300 million, of which almost $200 million from individuals, companies and foundations.
“This is unprecedented: a sign of extraordinary solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
In Kyiv, half the population of the city has fled since the war broke out on 24 February, according to its mayor Vitali Klitschko.
In a televised statement, Klitschko said that “one in two Kyiv residents has left the city”.
“A little less than two million people have currently left. However, Kyiv has been transformed into a fortress. Every street, every building, every checkpoint has been fortified.”
The total population of Kyiv was around 3.5 million in 2021, according to the website citypopulation.de.
Additional reporting by Rónan Duffy and AFP
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Fair play to everyone who’s volunteered, that’s properly fantastic. Meanwhile you’ve got that creature in the UK whinging about the possibility of these same refugees sneaking in from here.
I’m sure many Brits would be delighted to offer space to people from Ukraine, Boris & Priti Patel are just determined to once again show how callous and uncaring they are.
@Ribeard Ó Fiachna: your so wrong
@Ribeard Ó Fiachna: the Tory Party were ever thus.
Modular homes are not viable in the long run? First thing it would do is house all homeless and stop the waste of money for hotels, B&B, hostels.. Secondly it will bring rents down, get the tents of the streets, open rooms for tourists with 100 000 + refugees coming, and it will probably bring house prices down as well but I guess the 30 or so politician landlords wouldn’t be too happy presumably.. Where is that allowed u the way, 1 hand says we have to make a stop to it while the other hand rakes the euros in as a politician?
@Peter Willekens: Then you can build buildtolast housing by the bucket loads at a relaxed pace… The End Irish flipflopping Irish in the dumbledore, even those that rent of their sheds for ridiculous prices, you learned well from those next door…
@Peter Willekens: Absolutely.. They are a more than adequate way to house people who find themselves without a roof over their head for whatever reason. The problem , though, is that we have set a precedent by building brand new A rated, semi detached homes which everyone believes they are entitled to.
@Liz O’Neill: Tell thar to the vulture companies, working couples crippled by child care ,rental crisis, and rising costs while still trying to get on the property ladder. The only entitled ones are the banks facilated by the same politician’s, who were bailed out by the taxpayers. Yet you have the likes of Martin publicly stating there was no bank bailout..Now thats what you would call entitlement.
@Donal Desmond: The reason working couples are struggling is that they are the last to be taken into consideration when decisions are made. We are on the same page here. Too many living in top notch accommodation who don’t contribute a penny yet fill up available properties. But I’ll probably be accused of all sorts for writing this :/
Modular homes can be built for half the price and built in factory conditions then installed on site,this would solve our housing crises massively but easy to know the system is flawed to suit politicians developers mortgage lenders building the traditional more costly way
Guess who makes them?
https://www.broadsheet.ie/2015/09/15/absolutely-prefabulous/
@ChronicAnxiety: Makes some of them
Can people object to these modular homes because if they can they will never be built seems like every new development is going through a judicial review …
@Gerrard: There’s nothing wrong with modular homes. They are more than adequate for somebody who finds themselves on the streets, or escaping an horrendous situation such as in the Ukraine.(Look at all the ‘Trailer’ homes in the States) People here are simply afraid that if these dwellings come into existence, they might automatically acquire the ‘A’ rated 3 bed semi which they believe they are entitled to.
Is it true that someone comes out to inspect your home first?
@Quiet Goer: I read somewhere that The Red Cross do. I don’t see a problem with that, if true.
@Quiet Goer: they’re not just going to put these people anywhere. Rooms/houses will have to be liveable.
@Quiet Goer: that makes sense.
Censorship again from the journal
Nothing stopping you putting in a bid when the tender process is opened.
They built temporary modual homes in England after the last world war.,they were still being lived in up to the mid 19 70′s
have your say