‘Accommodating refugees will be challenging’ – taoiseach

ACCOMMODATING Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing their war-torn country will be “challenging” for the country, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has admitted.

Speaking outside Analog Devices Limerick at a jobs announcement, Deputy Martin acknowledged it wouldn’t be easy to source accommodation for Ukrainian refugees in view of the huge mass movement of Ukrainians from their own country.

“There are no easy solutions. We have to reach out and do everything we can to ease the pressure on the citizens of Ukraine.

“All of us are very touched by the stress and trauma that is being revisited on families and children arising from this conflict, having to leave their homes in very stressful circumstances.

“The mass movement of people from Ukraine is heart-rending. We don’t have ready-made solutions for the scale of the numbers who are going to arrive. But we will do the best we can to step up to the plate.”

Asked if he envisaged European countries could put pressure on Ireland to abandon its neutrality and join NATO, Deputy Martin said this issue doesn’t arise now and stressed the government’s focus right now is what it can do to help Ukraine.

“Our policy of neutrality is not hindering what has to be done to help Ukraine. Discussions around our neutrality are for another day. The world has been turned upside down and we will all have to reflect on that.

“We are not neutral in terms of what is happening in Ukraine. As members of the UN Security Council we uphold the value of self-determination and territorial integrity and sovereignty of people.

“President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine threatens the world order and is a cause for reflection.”

As Ireland reacts to the war-time situation, the Taoiseach outlined a Cabinet sub-committee had examined a whole range of measures to try and minimise the economic impact of Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine.

“Every Government department is working on scenario planning and how we can respond to the potential impacts. It may involve the biggest humanitarian response Ireland has ever witnessed.”

“We have to take it step by step. This is a war time situation that is not normal. We never had to deal with such a situation before in terms of scale and numbers.

“The state will have to take the lead working with non-governmental organisations and civil society. We will be working together and balance this with community responses.

“In the initial stages, some are staying with families and people they know. As the numbers grow, we will look as a state to provide accommodation.

“It will be very challenging because we are in a war time situation,” he added.

By Dan Danaher