Warning of increasing difficulty in providing refugee accommodation in coming months

The provision of refugee accommodation is set to become more difficult in the coming months with hotel contracts set to run out, and many hotels expected to opt to return to focusing on the tourist and hospitality season in the coming months. 

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman is expected to brief his Cabinet colleagues later today, Wednesday, about the challenges posed for the State in the coming months. 

It is widely expected that he is due to warn that sourcing accommodation is becoming increasingly difficult.

This is mainly due to the fact that many hotels currently under contract with the Department of Children and Integration for are set to run out in the coming months. 

It is understood that Minister O'Gorman will stress that the State needs to move away from its reliance on private providers and develop State-owned accommodation.

In the last few days there have been protests outside accommodation centres housing refugees and asylum seekers.

In recent days, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that “it makes sense” to increase the housing targets due to Ireland’s growing population and the war in Ukraine.

It comes after the government held a housing conference where stakeholders including developers, approved housing bodies and charities discussed ways to tackle the housing crisis.

Despite a raft of housing policies, there have been five consecutive months of record homelessness figures and spiralling house prices.