The Irish government are working on plans to pay for the use of vacant homes to house Ukrainian refugees.
Ministers are set to meet today to discuss new solutions to address the refugee housing crisis after Ireland officially ran out of beds for refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.
One idea being discussed is to work with local authorities to identify vacant properties that could be used to house Ukrainian refugees.
READ MORE: Ukrainian ambassador blasts lack of accommodation for refugees in Ireland as 'unacceptable'
Another potential Government solution is to develop a scheme that would pay homeowners with empty properties to hand them over to be used as emergency accommodation.
The Accommodation Recognition Payment scheme already pays Irish host families €400 a month to take refugees into their homes - with ministers set to discuss an increase in this payment.
This comes after the Citywest transit hub, which processes new arrivals, reached capacity over the weekend.
Around 35 refugees spent the night in Dublin Airport on Saturday due to no accommodation being available, with more arriving yesterday - bringing the number of refugees without accommodation to 43.
However, an overnight facility with capacity for 200 people is expected to open at the airport from today to take in refugees who arrive on late flights.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said all of the refugees who have been left without rooms are men.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko said the lack of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees coming to Ireland was “unacceptable”.
Ms Gerasko said she hoped the Government and other EU countries would find a solution.
She added: “They bought tickets, they arrived in Ireland. So it would be better to announce the lack of accommodation in advance and Ukrainians would decide to go to another country.”
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told RTE’s This Week programme he has spoken with Ms Gerasko this week and informed her of the pressure the Government was under.
He added: “The line here is it’s not acceptable for people to flee a conflict, to come to Ireland and not to have anywhere to go.
“And so we need to get on top of that as a Government.”
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