Families that take Ukrainian refugees into their homes could be paid up to €400 a month, under new plans.
The details of the plan are still being ironed out, but a formal decision is expected to be announced with the next two weeks.
It comes after the Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman yesterday told Newstalk the Government would consider a payment plan.
The Irish Independent reports that the programme aims to cover the increased costs incurred by families who take in refugees, while also offering an incentive to other families to consider it.
Families that have already taken people in will be eligible for the payment alongside those who agree to do so in the coming weeks and months.
Speaking last night, the Taoiseach said he had asked the Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys to draw up the plan.
He warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is continuing to have a huge impact at home and abroad.
“This is a terrible war,” he said. “It’s clear that Putin has created an energy crisis as part of the war.
“It is creating, potentially, a famine crisis with the attacks on grain silos and the fact that Ukraine is not in a position to export its grain - that will create difficulties downstream - and also the migration issue.
“Putin sees this a weapon, the more pressure he can create on the European continent.”
Around 25,000 people have arrived from Ukraine so far, with just over 1,600 seeking accommodation from the State.
The total is expected to rise to between 29,000 and 33,000 by the end of May.
On Tuesday, Cabinet ministers were warned that there will likely be a shortage of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees here by the end of the month – with the first refugees housed in mass accommodation centres from this week.
Mr Martin again ruled out putting a cap on the number of refugees Ireland will accept from the war-torn country – and insisted the government would find ways to increase the amount of accommodation available.
“We are looking at this on a number of levels in terms of both the immediate short-term possibilities - in terms of bigger facilities - but also then in terms of what can we construct in a more medium time frame,” he said. “What buildings can we reconfigure.”
“There is a group of formal local authority public servants have come together and they are examining a whole range of buildings to see can we reconfigure those to make them suitable for refugees.”
Yesterday the Russian President claimed his troops had ‘liberated’ the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as Russian troops prepare to seal off the last area of resistance in the city.
The US President Joe Biden has announced a further €800m in military aid and €500m in economic assistance to the Ukrainian government.
Main image shows refugees from Ukraine arriving at the Medyka border, 05-03-2022. Image: Piero Cruciatti/Alamy Live News
