The tiny island nation of Ireland is facing a severe housing shortage, and a population explosion driven by a surge in the number of Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter from the war in their homeland has exacerbated the problem.
Nevertheless, policymakers in Dublin are resisting calls from citizens to restrict further inflows, restating their commitment to meeting their obligations as a European Union member in hosting these nearly 100,000 migrants. The Ukrainian refugees – mainly women and children – now make up 1.9 per cent of the population.
Speaking to foreign media on the sidelines of the Global Ireland Summit held in Dublin on Oct 24, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin indicated that Ireland has the capacity to be home to even more people.
“The population of the Republic of Ireland is 5.2 million, but if you combine this with Northern Ireland, you’re looking at about seven-plus million now. If you go back to 1845, before the big famine in Ireland, the Great Famine, which was the biggest catastrophe in Ireland, we had eight million people on the island. So there is a sense that we’re coming back to perhaps what might be considered historic norm if the famine hadn’t interrupted the growth of Ireland,” said Mr Martin during a question-and-answer session.
“And so, we have capacity, although it is creating a lot of pressure, as we have never before been taking in so many refugees fleeing war.”
Mr Martin said Ireland’s accommodating position towards refugees was due in large part to the welcoming Irish population. However, he acknowledged that the influx had strained an existing housing crunch.
One Irish citizen, who requested to remain anonymous, told The Straits Times that he thought the government was more interested in looking good on the world stage than in dealing with the problems of its own people.
Mr Martin said: “Housing is the biggest social issue facing the country in terms of young people being in the position to afford to buy houses... But we’re catching up. We’ve made very good progress in the last two years on the housing front, though Covid-19 stopped construction during the lockdowns.”
According to a spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, there were over 25,019 asylum seekers currently in accommodation provided by the Irish government as at Oct 29.
The spokesperson also said that as at Nov 1, there were approximately 74,125 more asylum seekers who had sought accommodation from the State.
The department expects to spend up to €1.5 billion (S$2.2 billion) by the end of 2023 on accommodation and associated costs, the spokesperson added.
In a separate briefing on Oct 25, Finance Minister Michael McGrath said Ireland had set a target for the construction of 29,000 new housing units in the year 2023, and was on track to exceed it and reach around 32,000 units by the end of the year.
However, he added that the requirement was likely to be north of 40,000 units as, besides the burgeoning migrant population – which also includes refugees from other war-torn parts of the world such as Afghanistan – Ireland’s population is also growing naturally.
“In relation to housing, it is a very significant domestic challenge, one that we don’t understate. We have a comprehensive plan, Housing for All, which we are focused on implementing,” said Mr McGrath.
Ireland’s housing plan till the end of 2030 aims to provide every citizen with an affordable home to purchase or to rent at a reasonable price.
Mr McGrath said there would be over €5 billion of public capital available in 2024 to build more public homes, to be complemented by about €10 billion or so from the private sector.
“Ireland is a country that respects international agreements. We respect the rules and the commitments we signed up to, and so Ireland will honour its international obligations, both to people from Europe, from Ukraine, and the people who are seeking international protection,” said Mr McGrath.
The EU has agreed to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine until March 4, 2025.
According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office, the employment rate of Ukrainian refugees of working age between 20 and 64 is around 26 per cent. While almost 10,000 Ukrainians are employed by hotels, bars and restaurants, another 4,373 work in retail. Some Ukrainian refugees work two or more part-time jobs, indicating that the 14,804 in the workforce have 15,297 jobs with 5,744 different companies.
According to a survey, not being able to speak English is the main reason cited by Ukrainians for their inability to find work in Ireland. In that regard, the Irish government also offers vocational training to refugees, in addition to the right to work.
Queried on whether there was any pressure on Ireland’s education system, which is largely state-funded, as a result of the refugee population in Ireland, Mr Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, indicated that the large numbers had put a strain on Ireland’s resources.
“That has had an impact on our school system. Our Minister for Education and schools have worked to try and accommodate children in Irish schools. I do have to say that it is largely a positive experience and when you visit Irish schools and see how well that process has gone, it will lift your heart to see children who have fled their homes... to see them settle into Ireland, to see them learning English, to see them doing well. It is something that I am proud of, the Irish response,” said Mr Harris.
He added that with Ireland hosting refugees from other countries as well, this posed significant challenges. “We’re doing our best to grapple with that in real time, to provide shelter and a humanitarian response to people seeking refuge,” he said.
“We get it, it’s in our DNA, because we are a nation that saw past generations leave this country for a variety of reasons. So we’ve gone from a nation of emigration in many ways to a nation that’s welcoming people to our shores. And I think that is our responsibility.”
