Big decisions ahead for government on Ukrainian refugee issue

In a speech to the United Nations in February, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan said the invasion by Russia “an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression by an expansionist power against its neighbour.”

“The cause of Ukraine is not a case of North and South or East and West – it is the cause of right versus wrong,” he said.

Ireland has taken in over 100,000 refugees from Ukraine since the war started in 2022, with nearly 7 million Ukrainians fleeing since the war started.

Speaking in 2022, Leo Varadkar said: “when something happens in your neighbourhood, in your parish, on your estate, I think it’s only natural that you’re going to want to respond in a way that perhaps you wouldn’t if something was happening in a different part of the world.”

Three years later, the limits of compassion are being tested.

In late 2023, Varadkar told the Dáil while “there is no limit to Ireland’s compassion for refugees” fleeing the war in Ukraine, there were limits to capacity.

“We’re very much at capacity at the moment and we just don’t know whether we’d be in a position to provide accommodation, and all those additional supports for another 30,000 to 50,000 people if that number arrived over the course of the next year.”

Around the same time, welfare rates for Ukrainian refugees were cut by the last government, with the €220 per week afforded to Ukrainian refugees falling to €38.80 when they are in state accommodation.

The Accommodation Recognition Payment was introduced by the government in 2022 as an incentive to get Irish residents to house a refugee in their home.

Over 15,000 people have signed up for the scheme and at present, receive €800 a month, a fee which looks set to be reduced in the coming weeks.

In addition, the government signed up to the European-wide Temporary Protection Directive which granted refugees from Ukraine refugee status.

Initially meant to run until the end of 2023, the scheme was extended into 2025, and eventually, March 2026.

It will then be left up to individual members of the European Union if they wish to continue the scheme on a country-by-country basis.

A rightward change in government in Germany, and a similar likely change in government in France in 2027, means that Europe will no longer present a united front on the issue.

Much like the initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the John Lennon-esque vision of a country truly united in the face of a societal challenge gave way to good old-fashioned pessimism.

In the run-up to last November’s general election, Sinn Féin pledged to abolish Ireland’s participation in the Temporary Protection Directive should they get into power.

Their pivot towards a conservative stance on immigration played a major factor in the Social Democrats and Labour winning seats at their expense, particularly in urban areas across Dublin.

The manifesto read “the special status of Ukrainians under the Temporary Protection Directive should come to an end no later than March 2026. We believe that continually extending temporary measures is not a sustainable solution and is problematic for everyone.”

“If a beneficiary of Temporary Protection is from a part of Ukraine that is safe then, save for exceptional cases, return should be assisted.”

Then-Minister of State Jennifer Carroll MacNeill criticised Sinn Féin for this approach, remarking “how are they consulting to determine these safe areas? Is it Putin? Perhaps he’ll tell Sinn Féin what areas he won’t bomb or target in Ukraine?”

Neither Fianna Fáil’s manifesto nor Fine Gael’s manifesto made reference to abolishing the scheme, with Fine Gael’s manifesto stating they would stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

Pithy soundbites during election season carry very little weight in the day-to-day governing of the country, with news this week that the government were looking to move 240 refugees from their accommodation in Dublin 1 to new accommodation in County Kildare.

240 refugees are housed at Hubble Student Accommodation; of the 240 Ukrainians at the site, there are 49 school students and 77 are in employment.

Following pushback, plans to move the refugees with six days’ notice were paused.

Local Labour TD Marie Sherlock said, “the reasoning put forward by the government does not add up” and stated that the decision by the government is “unconscionable.”

The government claimed that there was a need to vacate the rooms in a bid to protect the rent pressure zone status of the accommodation, a claim which Sherlock refuted.

“The RPZ exemption has already kicked in because the student accommodation units have not been rented out to students for more than two years.”

“This flies in the face of a stated government intent to try and help Ukrainians integrate into the communities they live in,” she stated.

The term “socialism with a human face” is closely associated with the Prague Spring of 1968, and it appears the new government is pursuing a “liberalism with a shark smile” approach with regard to immigration. 

Speaking on RTÉ, Minister O’Callaghan said “too many people are coming to Ireland seeking international protection, who are not entitled to international protection.”

In January, 80% of application claims for international protection were rejected, a stat which O’Callaghan defended.

“We have to have a procedure which recognises that if you come in and you’re granted international protection, you stay, you’re welcome; if you come in and you refuse international protection, you leave, you’re gone.”

Immigration was mentioned as a deciding factor for just 6% of voters in an exit poll for last November’s general election, while housing topped the list of concerns on 28%.

After leaving office last year, Leo Varadkar was directly quoted as saying that immigration levels in Ireland have “risen too quickly.”

“A country of 5 million people seeing its population rise by 2% a year, which is what’s happening at the moment, is too fast.”

To Europe and the world as a whole, Ireland presents itself as a safe haven for refugees, an island of tolerance and moderation in the face of a changing Europe. 

The words and rhetoric of elected representatives tell another story. 

In the 2017 film Get Out, Bradley Whitford’s character, plays a seemingly well-meaning liberal who tells the main black character he would have voted for Obama a third time if he could.

That well-meaning liberal who’s sugar and cream in public and salt and vinegar in private character wasn’t just satire; it’s who runs Ireland.