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A PROGRAMME TO refurbish 2,500 vacant social homes is to be accelerated to help deal with the pressure being caused by providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
The existing Voids Stimulus Programme has been in operation since July 2020, with the government saying that an investment of €40 million saw the refurbishment of 2,500 homes in its first six months.
Fresh funding for the scheme is now being earmarked to deliver more places for Ukrainian refugees.
This plan and others will be discussed at Cabinet tomorrow as part of Ireland’s response to the war on Ukraine and its effects here.
It is set to include the identification of more buildings for use as emergency accommodation and the activation of stalled planning permissions.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is also set to use emergency powers under the Planning Act to excempt certain planning requirements and accelerate the building of new homes.
In recent weeks, newly arrived refugees have been overwhelmingly placed in dormitory style accommodation in community halls and sports halls rather than in hotels.
It is being estimated that by the end of May there will be between 29,000 and 33,000 people seeking accommodation.
Last week, an emergency accommodation facility in Millstreet Arena in Cork began accepting refugees, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday visiting families who were staying there.
Speaking as part of the visit, Martin reiterated that Ireland would not be placing a cap on the number of refugees the country accepts from Ukraine.
“I am not contemplating caps (on refugees) – I am not talking about that. There will be challenges but we are part of a European-wide response,” he said.
First and foremost – we are not a military power – the thing we can do best is humanitarian (aid).
Last week, the Irish Red Cross confirmed that a total of 24,306 pledges for accommodation of Ukrainian refugees have been made by Irish people so far.
Of these, 5,714 of these are vacant homes and 18,322 are shared accomodation.
The Red Cross hopes to start the rollout of the homes this week, starting with individual adults or, for example adult family members who travelled without children.
- With reporting by Olivia Kelleher
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Brayruit?
As long as it doesn’t glorify being a scote…they don’t need any more encouragement!!
@Yzo Sirrius: thats all it does, thats all any of those shows do. Really tired of them now. I wish RTE would glorify ethical lifestyles for a change.
@Mary Fitzsimons: This has nothing to do with RTE, Virgin are responsible for this production!
@Mary Fitzsimons: because glorifying ethical lifestyles directly as the shows medium would be quite boring, good crime television programs can be successful at glorifying the archetypes of different characters and how they potentially react with the story and it really is down to the story, but crime especially of that calibre is at an all time low here, unless its based in the 90s or earlier 2000s other wise its going to be an inaccurate shit show, watch the sopranos or the wire my dear and you will say otherwise about television shows or glorifying criminality, instead it uses the theme as a vehicle to drive the story another great example is a Danish film “pusher” the problem lies with the writing staff not the theme.
There really isn’t anything better than ‘ultra violence’. Endlessly fascinating and a joy to watch. Looking forward to the box set.
@alan: indeed, really difficult to write that stuff
@alan: you spelt sex bot wrong
While Love/Hate was brilliant, sadly we just don’t produce good drama in this country. Great and all as Love/Hate was, it never really took off outside of Ireland.
@Aging Lothario: I heard the Yanks are doing a remake of Love/Hate, set among the indigenous people in the rougher parts of Hawaii.
@Aging Lothario: agree, the production or Irish TV always has a cheap and amateur undertone. It’s sometimes cringey to watch.
@Squiddley Diddley: Supposedly, Denis Lehane (writer of Gone Baby Gone amongst other crime novels) was on board to write the series, which would have been a hell of a coup but that was 5 years ago & there’s not much been heard of it since
@Aging Lothario: unlike the Danes … brilliant stuff sells worldwide.
There’s nothing glamorous about the seedy side of Bray although some work hard at trying to put a ‘respectable’ face on it.
Won’t be able to go to Bray anymore as the up and coming will be walking around thinking there gangsters.
I saw the first series, too many adverts I’ll watch no more.
have your say