Tá mé ag ardú na ceiste ó thaobh na híocaíochta ón Stát do dhídean ar cíos do mhuintir ón Úcráin. Mar is eol don Aire, chuir Sinn Féin in éadan an síneadh ama don scéim seo ag tús na bliana. Dúirt muid ag an am sin go raibh an scéim ag cur brú ar an earnáil cíosa príobháidí. Is é sin an rud atá tarlaithe ó shin.

The accommodation recognition payment, ARP, scheme for Ukrainian refugees was introduced at a time of great uncertainty in 2022. I ask the Minister again today to look at the impact of this scheme. As he is aware, in February of this year, Sinn Féin voted against the blanket extension of the scheme. We argued that it should only be available to host families who open up their own homes to Ukrainians. We also argued that it should not be available to homes that should really be on the private rental market. We further argued that it should not be available for rooms that should be used as student digs. We told the Minister it was unfair and that it offers an advantage to one group of renters, namely, Ukrainians, that is not available to any other.

Landlords openly state that they are getting more money from the accommodation recognition payment than they would receive if they let their properties to private renters. As the Minister is aware, the scheme provides €800 a month in rent for Ukrainians, regardless of whether they are working or their income. The payment is tax free, which means it is worth €1,600 to a landlord. In constituencies like mine in Donegal, where the average rent is below €1,600, it is pricing other renters out of the market and reducing supply. That flies in the face of the commitment the Government gave, and assurances that any measures to temporarily accommodate Ukrainians would not impact on housing supply. The Minister himself said the Government does not want to pursue a measure that interferes with the private rental market, but that is precisely what it has done, and what is happening.

We, in Sinn Féin, warned earlier this year that this scheme would put further pressure on the private rental sector, and it has now been shown to be indisputably unfair. The latest figures show that the number of new payments made under the scheme is increasing at the rate of nearly 1,000 per month. Many of these payments are in respect of homes that should be available to workers and families in the private rental sector. Since the scheme was extended earlier this year, thousands of homes have been taken out of that sector. The Government has built in an incentive for landlords to accept one renter over another, based on their nationality, when the housing need of both is acute. That is wrong. If there are two people working side by side, earning the same wages, with the same family size, under the scheme the Government pays the rent for one but not the other.

We can see why more and more people are questioning the fairness of this payment. It is provided regardless of income and regardless of employment status and that is simply not fair. How can this do anything other than create competition, resentment and inequality when a dysfunctional rental market already exists? I put a number of clear questions to the Minister. I also put them to him in the amendment we put forward in February of this year. I am asking the Minister to take immediate action on this to ensure that those who are working pay for their accommodation, like everybody else in the State, to bring an end to new payments under this scheme from today and to ensure proper controls are in place so the scheme does not reduce the number of properties in the rental market.

I thank the Deputy for his question. Just before I respond specifically on the ARP, it is worth reminding ourselves of the context in which this payment was introduced. It was at a time of the greatest humanitarian crisis we have seen on our Continent since the Second World War, and the greatest movement of people across the Continent.

It was the biggest humanitarian challenge we in Ireland have faced in our nation's history. We have provided refuge for more than 100,000 Ukrainians over the course of the past two years. At its height, the State was directly providing accommodation supports to approximately 75,000 Ukrainians, but the numbers have decreased for various reasons. One reason is that Ukrainians are returning home. Some Ukrainians are going to other European countries. The numbers have also decreased because of measures the Government has taken. We provided a generous response to Ukrainians at the start of this war. That was the right thing to do. Most Deputies in this House think that was the right thing to do. However, it was not a response that could be maintained in the medium term. Earlier this year we made significant changes to accommodation in particular. We placed a 90-day limit on the ability of new Ukrainians coming to this country to stay here. That had a very significant impact on the number of people arriving in Ireland seeking temporary protection. We subsequently made changes to ensure equalisation and fairness. For example, there was an anomaly for Ukrainians who were in receipt of direct State-provided accommodation, who were getting free accommodation as well as meals. They were in a more advantageous situation than Ukrainians in self-catering accommodation and Irish people. We have made significant amendments to the social protection entitlements for those in full State-owned accommodation. They are now only entitled to €38 per week. That change has had an impact as well.

The recognition payment has been very important to support the pledged accommodation and the local authority accommodation scheme. It has allowed us to move away from total reliance on hotel and guesthouse accommodation that we saw earlier in our response. It has also allowed Ukrainians to integrate within communities. Sometimes they get entire homes and sometimes shared rooms within an individual's house. The payment supported people to do that and to meet their costs. Up to this point, we have aligned that support with the temporary protection directive. That is correct in terms of ensuring Ireland's response is in lock step with the response of other European member states. Under the legislation, there is a provision for the review of the workings of the recognition payment. A review is currently under way and that will feed in to the decision on whether we extend the scheme in line with the temporary protection directive or if we amend its ambit.

It is important to state that right now there are thousands of people supported by this payment.

If we were to cut or end the payment immediately, it is important that we understand the impact this would have on Ukrainians who we, as a country, are hosting. That has to be borne in mind in terms of any decision this Government or future Governments make in respect of the recognition payment.

As the Minister knows, this payment is nothing to do with the temporary protection directive. This is Irish legislation. We can change, end or amend it. Indeed, we argued that existing Ukrainian residents would be supported but that the policy should not displace homes that should be available to the private rental sector. The Government voted against that in February. This is why we are in a situation whereby about a thousand additional homes come within scope for this payment every month. This is putting pressure on the private rental sector. I have examples of it. I come from a county where the average rent is below €1,600 per month and landlords have told me that they can get more money renting to Ukrainian families than to others. That is why 1,100 of those properties Donegal - one out of every seven rental properties - are in that space. It is the same in many other counties. This is fundamentally an issue of fairness.

Of course we have seen the compassion of the Irish people. Of course needed to move to support individuals when the war broke out. Two years have passed. A person who works side by side with an individual who has a similar sized family experiences a blatant unfairness when it comes to the Government's scheme in that the State pays for the rent of one and not the other. That is not acceptable. A third of Ukrainians are working, yet regardless of their income, employment status or profession, they receive State-supported accommodation. The problem is that this policy is displacing the private rental sector. The Minister needs to bring this to an end for new recipients immediately. As we pointed out in February, we cannot continue to put this pressure on the private rental sector.

I thank the Deputy. It is important to state that this payment is allowing us to meet the accommodation needs of Ukrainians who are here as a legal right under the temporary protection directive. It is an extremely important part of the State's accommodation offering. Thousands of Ukrainians have a legal right to be in this country under the temporary protection directive. We meet their accommodation needs through the recognition payment and pledged accommodation. If we are to speak about removing that payment, we have to have an answer in terms of how we continue to meet our obligations to those people, who are here legally.

We made a decision, which was supported across the House at the time, to the effect that over-reliance on hotels and guest houses was not an appropriate way to meet the accommodation needs of families in particular on a long-term basis. The recognition payment has allowed people to live independently in communities and put down roots. I have not heard a clear suggestion from Sinn Féin about how we would address those needs-----

We put the amendments down. The Government voted against them.

The Deputy said what he does not want-----

With respect, we put amendments down-----

-----but has not indicated what he does want.

-----stating what should happen.

Whoever is the Minister has to find the accommodation. He or she cannot draw those kind of lines in terms of what will not happen. The Minister has to show where accommodation will be provided.

The Minister did not once address my point about the unfairness of what is involved.