Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 (Section 4(2)) (Scheme Termination Date) Order 2026: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-24
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Sharon Keogan (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I thank the Minister for coming here. I concur with what Senator Ahearn has said in relation to the kindness of the people of Ireland in March 2022 when the nation was faced with taking in Ukrainian refugees because of the war with Russia. Many thousands of people opened their hearts and homes to the Ukrainian people. Here we are four years later, and we are saying another year and looking at the cost of that one year. I looked up the figures. There were 19,000 properties availing of this last year in March 2025. This year it is 23,000 properties so it seems to be going up. If it continues like that, it is a cost of approximately €165 million to the taxpayer. I will be supporting the amendment put down by Sinn Féin. I feel it is distorting the housing market. Does the Minister know how many Ukrainians are in possession of the rent allowance supplement as well? Do we have a figure for that? They were always able to get the rent allowance from the moment they arrived in the country if they could not get accommodation in hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation. They were always able to apply to county councils to get rent allowance. Does the Minister know how many are getting rent allowance and how many properties are being rented at the moment? For me it is the inequity and unfairness of the scheme to the Irish taxpayer, and I will be supporting the Sinn Féin motion.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-24