Danny Healy-Rae slams €850,000 cost to house Ukrainian pets, stating: ‘We’ve enough pets here in Ireland’

DEPUTY Danny Healy-Rae has blasted the Government for spending what he claims is €850,000 to house pets for Ukrainians since the war started in 2022.

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday last, the Deputy said Government should show the same interest in spending for the wider public as it does on helping Ukrainians.

He signalled out ‘people who go to work early in the morning’ and pay 40 per cent of their income in tax and 4.5 per cent Universal Social Charge, saying they deserve better from the Government.

“It came out the other day that the Government paid €850,000 to house and accommodate dogs and pets for people coming from Ukraine. We have enough dogs and pets here in Ireland and there is plenty of them to be got,” he said.

“If it was a dog here, you would pay a dog licence for it. Did the Government pay for the dog licence as well on top of that? Those are the questions. The Government is paying €1.5 billion for hotel and commercial accommodation. God almighty, how is the country going to sustain that? And the Government is wondering about bringing in more of them,” Deputy Healy-Rae added.

He said Government has a duty to ‘be fair to everyone’ and to end the policy of bringing in migrants without the necessary accommodation. He further criticised Government for acquiring 36 per cent of hotel beds in Killarney

“Be fair to everyone. Be fair to our own people. Be fair to the Ukraine people and to the asylum seekers who are coming here,” he said.

“The Government does not have accommodation for them. It does not have one iota of anything to provide separate accommodation for them in any town or village... Minister, you have gone far beyond your remit.

“Unless the Government is getting money from Europe or something, and it should come out with it and tell us if it is, spending taxpayers’ money with reckless disregard like this is shameful. Shame on the whole bloody lot of you,” he said.