Doherty says €800 accommodation payment for Ukrainian refugees displacing private rental in Donegal - video Dailymotion

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Doherty says €800 accommodation payment for Ukrainian refugees displacing private rental in Donegal

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00:00Minister, the Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme for Ukrainian refugees was introduced

00:05in 2022 at a time of great uncertainty. But Minister, I'm asking you again today to look

00:12at the impact of this scheme. In February of this year, as you know Sinn Féin voted

00:17against the blanket extension of the scheme. We argued that it should only be available

00:21to host families who open up their own homes to Ukrainians. We argued it should not be

00:26available to homes that should really be on the private rental market. And we argued

00:30it should not be available for rooms that should really be used as student digs. We

00:35told you it was unfair. We told you it offers an advantage to one group of renters, Ukrainians,

00:40that is not available to any other. Landlords are openly stating that they are getting more

00:46money from the Accommodation Recognition Payment than they would receive if they let their

00:50properties to private renters. The scheme, as you know Minister, provides €800 a month

00:55to pay for rent for Ukrainians regardless of whether they are working and regardless

01:00of their income. The payment is tax-free and that means to a landlord it is worth €1,600.

01:05Indeed, in constituencies like mine in Donegal, where the average rent is below €1,600,

01:11it is pricing other renters out of the market and reducing supply. And that flies in the

01:16face of the commitment your government gave and assurances it said that any measures to

01:21temporarily accommodate Ukrainians would not impact on housing supply. You yourself,

01:26Minister, said that we do not want to pursue a measure that interferes with the private

01:30rental market. But that is precisely what you have done and what is happening. We in

01:35Sinn Féin warned earlier this year that this scheme would put further pressure on the private

01:39rental sector and it is now showing to be indisputably unfair. The latest figures show

01:45that the number of new payments made under the scheme is increasing at nearly a rate

01:49of £1,000 per month. Many of these are in respect of homes that should be available

01:54to workers and families in the private rental sector. Since you extended your scheme earlier

01:58this year, thousands of homes have been taken out of that sector. And you have built in

02:02an incentive for landlords to accept one renter over another based on their nationality when

02:08the housing needs of both are acute. And that is wrong. Two people working side by side

02:13earning the same wages with the same family size. Under your scheme, you pay the rent

02:17for one but not the other. And we can see why more and more people are questioning the

02:21fairness of this payment. It is provided regardless of income, regardless of employment status

02:27and that is simply not fair. So can I ask you, how can this do anything other than create

02:32competition, resentment and inequality where there is an already dysfunctional rental market

02:38that exists? So I'm putting a number of clear questions, questions I put to you in the amendment

02:42that we put forward in February of this year. And I'm asking you to take immediate action

02:46on this. And that is to ensure that those who are working pay for their accommodation

02:51like everybody else in the state. Two, to bring an end to new payments under the scheme

02:56from today. And three, to ensure that proper controls are in place to ensure that the scheme

03:01does not reduce the number of properties on the rental market.

03:07Good afternoon Deputy and thank you for your question. And just before I respond specifically

03:13on the IRP, I think it's worth reminding ourselves of the context in terms of this

03:17particular payment was introduced. And it was in terms of the greatest humanitarian

03:22crisis we've seen in our continent since the Second World War, the greatest movement of

03:28people across the continent and the biggest humanitarian challenge we in Ireland have

03:34faced in our nation's history. We have provided refuge for over 100,000 Ukrainians over the

03:42course of the last two years. And at its height, the state was directly providing accommodation

03:49supports to about 75,000 of those Ukrainians. Now these numbers have decreased. They've

03:55decreased for a number of reasons. They've decreased because Ukrainians are returning

04:00home. Some Ukrainians are going to other European countries. And it's also decreased because

04:06of measures that the government have taken. We provided a generous response to Ukrainians

04:13at the start of this war. I believe that was the right thing to do. I think most deputies

04:17in this house think that was the right thing to do. But it wasn't a response that could

04:22be maintained into the medium term. So earlier this year, we made significant changes in

04:29terms of particularly in the area of accommodation. We placed a 90-day limit on new Ukrainians

04:36coming to this country in terms of their ability to stay here. That had a very significant

04:41impact in terms of the number of people arriving in Ireland seeking temporary protection. We

04:47subsequently made changes to ensure there is equalization, there is fairness. So for

04:53example, there was an anomaly where Ukrainians who were receipt of directly state-provided

05:01accommodation who are getting free accommodation, as well as meals, that they were in a more

05:07advantageous situation to Ukrainians who are in self-catering accommodation and indeed

05:13Irish people. So we've made changes and we've made significant amendments to the social

05:19protection entitlements for those in full state-owned accommodation. They're now only

05:24entitled to the 38 euro per week and that has had an impact as well.

05:30In terms of the recognition payment, that has been hugely important to support the pledged

05:38accommodation and the local authority accommodation scheme. That has allowed us to move away from

05:46the complete reliance on hotel and guest house accommodation that we saw earlier in our response

05:52and allow Ukrainians integrate within communities, get homes, sometimes full homes, some sharing

06:00rooms within an individual's house. And it supported people in terms of doing that, supporting

06:06them in terms of meeting those costs. We've up to this point aligned that support with

06:14the temporary protection directive and I think that's correct in terms of ensuring Ireland's

06:19response walks lockstep with the response of other European member states. Under the

06:26legislation there's a provision for the review of the workings of the recognition payment.

06:34There is a review underway at the moment and that will feed into the decision as to whether

06:40we extend it in line with the temporary protection directive and whether we extend it unamended

06:45or we make changes in terms of its ambit. But it is really important to say there are

06:50thousands of people supported by this payment right now, Deputy, and if we were to cut this

06:58payment, if we were to end it immediately, it is important that we understand the impact

07:03that that would have on Ukrainians who we are hosting as a country. And I think that

07:07has to be borne in mind in terms of any decision this government or future governments makes

07:12in terms of the recognition payment.

07:14Deputy Minister, Deputy Doherty.

07:16Thank you, Minister. As you know this payment is nothing to do with the temporary protection

07:21directive. This is Irish legislation. We can change it, we can end it, we can amend it.

07:25Indeed, we argued, for example, that existing Ukrainians would be supported but it should

07:29not displace homes that should be available to the private rental sector. Your government

07:34voted against that in February and this is why we are in a situation now where we're

07:38seeing about 1,000 additional homes come into this payment every single month. And

07:43it is putting pressure on the private rental sector. I have examples of it myself. I come

07:47from a county where the average rents are below €1,600 and landlords are telling me

07:52that I can get more renting out to a Ukrainian family than elsewhere. That's why there is

07:571,100 of those properties in Donegal. One out of seven rental properties are in that

08:03space. And it is the same in many, many other counties. This is fundamentally an issue of

08:09fairness. Of course we've seen the compassion of the Irish people. Of course we needed to

08:13move when the war broke out and support individuals. We're two years on now. And the question I

08:18put to you earlier on, somebody working side by side with somebody else with the same family

08:23size, there's a blatant unfairness in your scheme. And that is that the state pays for

08:28the rent of one and not the other. And that's not acceptable. A third of Ukrainians are

08:32working yet regardless of their income, regardless of their employment status, regardless of

08:36the profession that they're carrying out, they get state supported accommodation. And

08:40the problem is it is displacing the private rental sector. So you need to bring this to

08:45an end for new recipients immediately. We can't continue to put this pressure on the

08:49private rental sector as we pointed out to you in February of this year.

08:53Thanks Deputy. It's important to state that this payment is allowing us to meet the accommodation

08:58needs of Ukrainians in this country here as a legal right under the Temporary Protection

09:04Directive. It is an extremely important part of the state accommodation offering. There

09:11are thousands of Ukrainians who have a legal right to be in this country under the Temporary

09:15Protection Directive and we meet their accommodation needs through the recognition payment, through

09:20pledged accommodation. So if we are to speak about removing that payment, we have to have

09:27an answer in terms of how we continue to meet our accommodation obligations to these

09:35people here legally. We made a decision and it was one that was supported across this

09:42House at the time that the over-reliance on hotels and guest houses wasn't an appropriate

09:47way of meeting the accommodation needs of families in particular in a long term basis.

09:52The recognition payment has allowed people live independently, live in communities, put

09:58down roots and I haven't heard a clear suggestion from yourselves in terms of how we would address

10:05those needs. We put the amendments down, you voted against it. You said what you don't

10:10want. No, we put amendments down. With respect, we put amendments down saying what should

10:15happen. Whoever is the Minister has to find the accommodation. They can't put all those

10:20plans in terms of what won't happen. They have to show where accommodation will be provided.

Doherty says €800 accommodation payment for Ukrainian refugees displacing private rental in Donegal

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