Government placing burden on the West for the housing of refugees
New refugee figures have been revealed.
The Government has housed more refugees per capita in the west of Ireland than the east, according to new figures.
Mayo is home to 2,342 Ukrainian refugees, according to the breakdown. Sligo is housing 1,493 Ukrianian refugees; Galway County Council has homed 1,882 and Roscommon 538.
The figures show that Kerry is taking the largest number of Ukrainians.
The top three county areas where Ukrainian refugees are accommodated are Kerry (6,195), Donegal (3,956) and Cork County (3,018), while the lowest are Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (284), Monaghan (313) and Longford (320).
The figures show that for counties of their population size, Mayo, Donegal, Louth and Wicklow are housing a particularly high number of International Protection (IP) refugees.
Mayo is home to 1,396 IP applicants, far more than other Connacht counties. Sligo hosts 490 IP refugees; Galway (163) and Roscommon (194).
For international protection applicants, three Dublin local authority areas top the list – Dublin City Council (3,802), followed by South Dublin (3,569) and Fingal (2,591) – while bottom are Leitrim (104), Longford (136) and ¬Kilkenny (137).
The new figures were provided by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
“It’s clear from these figures that there is still a significant regional imbalance in the distribution of immigrants into the country,” said Peadar Tóibín TD, leader of the Aontú party, who requested the data.
“The Government has located far more immigrants per capita in the western counties than in the east,” he added.
The Government insists it is dealing with international arrivals on a national basis, not county by county.
More than 106,000 Ukrainian refugees came to Ireland following the outbreak of war in their home, Thousands have home while others have secured employment and are renting. Recent figures reveal there are 48,305 Ukrainians living in State-paid accommodation while there are more than 29,000 IP applicants homed.
