The Government is to double to €800 the payment people receive for hosting Ukrainian refugees in their home. 

Currently, host families are paid €400 a month but there is a severe lack of accommodation nationwide and the Government hopes a higher fee will encourage more people to volunteer. 

“We need more capacity,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin told Newstalk. 

“I believe we can create more capacity; although it will remain very challenging - of that there’s no doubt.” 

Beds for Ukrainians at Gormanston Army Camp. Image: Department of Taoiseach.

The Government intends to step up the building of modular homes and maximise the use of dormitories as well. 

Thus far, almost 54,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland this year and there has been a surge in people from other countries seeking international protection as well. 

After the Government asked a number of new arrivals to sleep at Dublin Airport, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that the sad reality is that the state can no longer “guarantee housing” to those who flee here. 

“We do have to tell people the truth,” he said last week. 

“We have to tell people who might come here from Ukraine or come here from other parts of the world seeking asylum that we have now reached the point where we can no longer guarantee accommodation for everyone who arrives here - and that’s the truth. 

“It’s a sad truth but it is the truth.” 

However, the Government has ruled out placing a cap on numbers, which it says would be illegal under international law. 

Main image: Ukrainian refugees on Lviv railway station waiting for train to escape to Europe. Picture by: Alamy.com