Stradbally refugee tent accommodation offers ‘safety and security’ as a ‘short-term measure’

Accommodating refugees in tents on the Stradbally Hall estate in Co Laois will offer people “safety and security for a period of time” but can only be a “very short-term measure”, Minister of State Joe O’Brien has said.

Mr O’Brien, the Minister of State for Community Development, Integration and Charities, said while Stradbally would be used for “six weeks as a whole”, nobody would spend more than three weeks there “at any one time”.

The Green Party TD said there had been an increase in the number of Ukrainian refugees coming to Ireland over the summer as the war was still going on and “the onslaught didn’t stop”.

Around 750 Ukrainian refugees will be housed in tents at the site of the Electric Picnic festival over the coming weeks.

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Mr O’Brien said “a lot of student accommodation” had been used by the State over the summer to house refugees but people had to be moved elsewhere.

“I was staying in close contact with the officials as we arrange additional emergency accommodation over the last couple of weeks,” he told reporters in Dublin on Tuesday.

“It was made clear that while Stradbally is for six weeks as a whole, there will be nobody that will spend more than three weeks there at any one time.

“This is very conscious of the fact that tented accommodation is far from ideal. It is going to offer people safety and security for a period of time, but we’re very conscious that it can only be a very short term measure.

“There is really extraordinary and ongoing efforts to constantly source new and better and more appropriate accommodation as well.”

Mr O’Brien added that civilians were being killed on a weekly basis and that the State, his department and Minister Roderic O’Gorman had responded “extraordinarily” over the last 18 months with 90,000 people seeking protection in Ireland.

The minister was speaking at the launch of the Government’s Social Inclusion Programme annual report. The programme, which aims to address inequality and improve outcomes for disadvantaged groups and individuals in the country, is funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the European Social Fund.

Last year, 2,760 local community groups and 30,416 individuals were supported by the programme.

The proportion of individuals from the new communities target group rose from 13 per cent in 2021 to 31 per cent in 2022.

Ukrainians on the programme were more likely to be short-term unemployed, with a higher educational status and were more likely to be women. Travellers made up two per cent of the caseload and Roma comprised less than one per cent.