I begin by saying hello to Lorcan and Harry and their mum Karen Keely. They are in the Visitors' Gallery and are from Ratoath in the royal county of Meath. They are very welcome.

I understand that the Government has signed off on changes to supports for Ukrainian people. It has been reported that welfare payments are to be brought down in line with payments made to other international protection applicants.

Is that the case? Will the Taoiseach tell us when we will have sight of the legislation for these welfare changes?

I understand the Government has also decided to limit State-provided accommodation for Ukrainian people to 90 days. Will the Taoiseach confirm that is the case? It is the issue of accommodation I particularly want to focus on because I am very concerned about it. We have, as he knows, a major and embedded housing capacity problem in Ireland. I raise the question of housing with the Taoiseach, week in and week out, more often than I raise any other single issue. Indeed, it is the issue raised with me on the ground more than any other. Where will incoming Ukrainian people be housed for the 90 days to which I refer? Where is the capacity and where is the plan for temporary accommodation? Where will they go when the 90 days are up? Will they have to find a home within the general housing system, which is already at breaking point? Am I to understand they will have to find a place in the private rental sector? People cannot find rented accommodation for love nor money and when they do, the rents are extortionate. Will Ukrainian people be given tents and told to take their chances on the streets? I am sure we can agree that would simply not be acceptable and would not work.

Where is the Government's plan? Will the Taoiseach outline it in some detail? Government decisions are taken at a time when the housing system is broke, overwhelmed and creaking at the seams. It is a source of great distress for people and families right across our communities. There are stories of young families in emergency accommodation. Young people are raising their own families in their parents' boxrooms. People are unable to find affordable rental accommodation, not to mind buying their own homes. Cá bhfuil an plean? An bhfuil plean ag an Taoiseach nó ag an Rialtas? Tá ár gcóras tithíochta faoi bhrú ollmhór. Tá daoine ag iarraidh an rud ceart a dhéanamh ach caithfidh an Rialtas an plean a thaispeáint dúinn.

People want to do the right thing and have done the right thing. They want to help those fleeing the horror of war. They want their Government to do the right thing. Above all else, they want their Government to have a plan. That plan, that capacity, has been absent and our housing system has come under even greater pressure. The Government has today taken its decisions at Cabinet. Will the Taoiseach explain, in respect of everything I have outlined, how this plan is going to work?

I thank the Deputy. At the outset, I want to say I am proud that we have welcomed 100,000 Ukrainians to Ireland. That has been done at a time when their country is being attacked and invaded. All 27 countries of the European Union, including Ireland, opened their doors to people from Ukraine. Some of us opened our houses to people from Ukraine. Roughly 100,000 people have fled Ukraine and come to Ireland, of whom we think approximately 80,000 are still here. Of course, they continue to come. I want to say clearly that Ukrainians who are fleeing the war in Ukraine will remain welcome in Ireland, just as they are welcome in every member state, all 27 countries, of the European Union. That is not going to change. However, we have decided to bring what we offer Ukrainians fleeing here into line with what is offered in other western European countries, very often countries that have not welcomed as many Ukrainians as we have per head of population. That will require legislative change. The legislation will be published in January and, with the help of these Houses, will be enacted by the end of January. Those changes will come into effect at that point.

At this stage, the changes to which I refer have been well flagged and well discussed for several months. People know these changes are on the way. Under the new arrangements, anybody arriving from Ukraine and seeking temporary protection will be provided with State accommodation, just as they are now. However, we can only guarantee up to 90 days. During that 90-day period, people here will be paid €38.80 per week as a subsistence allowance. There will be an additional €29.80 per child per week.

This is in recognition of the fact that accommodation is being provided, as well as heat and light. This is money that is being provided for daily expenses, and that will be for 90 days. During that period, we will work with them, with NGOs and others to assist them to find their own accommodation. Many different possibilities arise, including: taking up employment, where possible, which many Ukrainians have done and have provided their own accommodation; pledged accommodation; or staying with people they know in networks. Any solution we can find for them, we will. Once the 90 days are up and if people move out then, or even before then, they will be assessed for social welfare as Irish citizen would be or any EU citizen who satisfies the habitual residence clause. This includes eligibility for rent allowance but not for the housing assistance payment or social housing.

As we all appreciate, this is a very difficult situation. This is the biggest movement of people that has happened in Europe since the Second World War. Between 6 million and 7 million people have left Ukraine. A proportion of those, approximately 100,000, have come to Ireland and we have been able to accommodate them. There are over 10,000 Ukrainian children in our schools and over 10,000 Ukrainians working in our economy, with about 70,000 of them in some form of State-provided accommodation. However, accommodation is scarce and the numbers coming in remain very high. We are making this change with that in mind, recognising that other European countries have acted similarly and have changed what they offer over the course of the past two years. We are now following suit.

I agree with the Taoiseach that the welcome displayed to people from Ukraine has marked us very well. I have no doubt that will continue. People unquestionably want to do the right thing and want us collectively to do the right thing in response to what the Taoiseach correctly described as the biggest movement of people since the Second World War. The Taoiseach also correctly noted that accommodation is scarce, but what he has not set out for us is the plan for temporary accommodation for Ukrainian people who come here. Where will they be? Where will they stay for the 90 days and, crucially, where do they go after those 90 days? Does the Taoiseach expect or anticipate that they will seek accommodation in the private rental sector, which is already at breaking point? What is the Government's plan in terms of accommodating people? I appreciate the fact that the Taoiseach has clarified the Government's decisions, but I am very concerned that there is no plan to accommodate for temporary purposes or indeed, when the 90 days expire.

We are confident that we will be able to provide that State accommodation for the 90 initial days to give people who come here from Ukraine a chance to establish themselves and a chance to find their own accommodation and their own employment - whatever they can manage to do. Some of that accommodation already exists across the system. As I mentioned already, people from Ukraine who have moved into State accommodation do not always stay there. Some have moved on to find their own accommodation while others have moved on to other parts of the European Union, so accommodation does become free in the existing former hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. We also have the modular homes which the Office of Public Works is building and the refurbishment programme, which is taking old buildings and bringing them back into use as accommodation. All of that will continue. We have already managed to find accommodation for over 70,000 Ukrainians. Some of that will be the same accommodation, as people move out, but we will, of course, need to source additional accommodation as we have done for the past two years. In a crisis situation like this, I appreciate that the perfect is the enemy of the good. We need to use any accommodation that we can find. In many cases, it will be former hotels, former bed and breakfast accommodation and refurbished buildings.