Ukrainian refugees in Ireland - Megathread

Its not upto the government to intervene in something like that. Thats a private matter between the people involved.

It's extraordinary (albeit not surprising) after all this time ,so few Ukrainian refugees are actually in pledged accommodation, I said from the start and not questioning people's generosity, this whole Pledge concept was a non runner from the start for a host (no pun intended) of complex reasons. I also felt from the outset government made some extraordinarily bad decisions based on a perception, "A sure Citizens will house the vast majority of these refugees ", that hasn't nor was it ever going to go the plan.

The Red Cross have been an abysmal failure, why they were even involved is another mystery, their expertise are in disaster relief not trying to source accommodation in a developed economy, although admittedly they probably weren't aware of the state the housing market was in here, I'd say privately they are regretting get involved in this farce.

These reports of local Authorities renovating buildings currently to house up to 3000 refugees is perplexing, I've not seen or heard of any work being done in at least 4 counties , there may be some work being done but I'm skeptical of the levels government banding about, besides were are the construction workers coming from with the current shortages in the sector, I'm hearing of contractors actually walking away from projects due to increased costs.

Bizzarely government also stating separately they intend to house up to 6,000 refugees by August 🤔, simple question, WHERE ?????

It's a very simple fact, the vast, vast majority of Ukrainian refugees will infact end up staying in Hotels for the foreseeable future, why the government continue the pretence is utterly baffling.

I'd be amazed if we don't see a further surge in arrivals in the next 2 months.

The continued virtue signalling by government ministers on the world stage has become quite tiresome, MM & Leo need to stop this nonsense and address the mess they've created and immediately.

I never suggested you cornered them. They are your words.

But, you are missing the point. It's from their perspective, they clearly didn't want to engage with you as like you said they moved away. Which is their right, everyone has the right to privacy and not to be gossiped about because they exercise that right.

You have no idea their back story or what they have been through.

It's sad but unsurprising unfortunately that I need to explain to that to someone.

The people pledging accommodation have more or less vanished into the ether. It was always going to be pie in the sky stuff.

There is gonna be some dough spent on hotel rooms by the government and the remaining hotels will be able to price gouge. Who needs a tourism industry when we can have a booming refugee industry instead I suppose.

RTE.ie: 93% of pledged accommodation is not housing Ukrainians.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ukraine/2022/0611/1304308-93-of-pledged-accommodation-is-not-housing-ukrainians/

How is it gouging? What method do you think they should use to determine who gets a room other than via a price mechanism?

Before you want to get into an argument about gouging, I spent 30 years in the sector, Pop Over to the crisis in Hospitality recruitment sector thread for a discussion on Hospitality sector Gouging in Ireland to discuss, not for this Thread, but I'll finish by saying if there was awards or competition for Gouging, the Irish Hospitality sector would win gold everytime and hands down.

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A blind man could have foreseen this debacle, this government have failed the working squeezed middle time after time. We have enough Ukrainian refugees here now, time to close the door to the rest, cut social welfare to those here and encourage them to work and find their own accommodation. I'm sure they would prefer that than staying in hotels and recieveing state support. The tax payers of Ireland have more than done their bit. Things are getting tight now for everyone. If they want to let in more refugees then let them build big camps in the curragh, that will provide refuge from war and will look after their basic needs. I hear on the radio this morning that the Ukrainian pets must also now be given more attention due to the stresses of moving....... For the love of God!!

Well you brought it up first!

I fully understand it but the unfortunate fact is there is no supply so prices have shot up. I'd say we agree as to why there is so little supply so we'll leave it at that.

It's been said here many times, they are not flying into Ireland for the weather. The penny is dropping, the people of Ireland (mostly the taxpayer) has done their bit, we've taken in a huge amount of people and have given them a great opportunity even though their presence will put big pressures on us as a nation, even considering all the problems we currently have. Why are we still taking in more? Ffg will have some big questions to answer on this, especially when things get very tough during the winter, when interest rates kick in and inflation will be still high and thousands upon thousands of ukrainians are nice and snug in hotel rooms all over the country while paddy will be breaking the law by selling his cold neighbour Tom a trailer of turf! Get the popcorn because all this will eventually come to a head. The honeymoon period is over.

My question was what is the alternative to allocating scarce rooms if not via the price mechanism?

I'd imagine a lot of pledges of accomodation weren't fulfilled due to the huge surge in the prices of utility bills a few weeks after the war started. That, and the fact it was initially thought to be a short stay thing for Ukrainians.

The majority of Ukraine is unaffected by the war. Those who have decided to remain here are here to bleed the system now, free accomodation and the rest and sending their handsome winfall of social welfare back to their corrupt country. We are being taken for a ride by Zalensky at this stage. I only hope there are some European MPs who can see how much we are being taken advantage of, and start tightening Ukrainian access to the EU.