Labour rep calls for reform of the government’s housing strategy to support refugees
SLIGO-LEITRIM Labour party representative Nessa Cosgrove has called on the government to update its Housing for All strategy to take into account the housing needs of Ukrainian refugees who are arriving in Ireland.
Cosgrove said: “I was horrified to read the news last week that the ‘céad mile fáilte’ government propose to offer Ukrainian refugees may consist of prefabs and tents rather than a proper roof over their head. “We need to develop a long-term housing strategy for refugees to include long-term, own home accommodation, not tents.
“These must be incorporated into Housing For All without delay.
“There now must be an immediate audit carried out of accessible state lands in urban areas to identify its suitability for modular housing for refugees fleeing the war.”
She said that there is a need for a “whole government response” to the integration of Ukrainian refugees which extends to housing and education to match the goodwill shown by the Irish public since the outbreak of the war. “The welcome that the Irish people have extended to their Ukrainian neighbours has been exceptional. “Once again we have seen society aspiring to an ideal that the government parties are failing to deliver upon. “Time and again Fianna Fàil and Fine Gael have promised action to address the failings in health care, education, childcare and, most pressingly of all, housing.
“They have squandered the opportunities to address these failings over the last 10 years, and, if past form is anything to go by, they will also squander this one.”
Cosgrove added that every person living in Ireland is entitled to a home and that it is time for the government to live up to their slogan. “Housing for All should not just be a catchphrase, a fig leaf to mask the government’s inadequacies.
“It is a genuine and an achieveable aspiration.
“Every person living in this state should be entitled to adequate and suitable housing. “History tells us that refugees will not be able to return home quickly.”
Cosgrove added: “We need a proper, well thought through, longterm housing strategy to ensure that we do not have children – be they Irish, Syrian or Ukrainian – growing up in camps.”