Cork city location among first five reception centres for new Ukrainian arrivals  

A YET to be announced location on Gerald Griffin Street in Cork city has been identified as one of five designated centres to provide 90 days of accommodation for new arrivals from Ukraine.

From tomorrow new legislation means that anyone fleeing the war in Ukraine who registers for temporary protection and is looking for State-provided accommodation in Ireland will be accommodated for a maximum of 90 days.

Five of six designated accommodation centres have been announced, with the smallest being on Gerald Griffin Street, Cork, with the capacity for 107 people.

The other centres are: Ballyogan Road, Dublin City (capacity 392), Stradbally, Co Laois (capacity 950), Fernbank, Limerick City (capacity 250), and Punchestown, Co. Kildare (capacity 378).

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth explained that people will be provided with food, laundry, other services and integration supports in these centres, and that standard social welfare payments will no longer be available to a person while they are resident there.

They will be entitled to a reduced weekly allowance of €38.80 per adult and €29.80 per child in respect of daily expenses, though entitlement to Child Benefit is not affected by these changes.

When they leave, or if they make their own accommodation arrangements on arrival and do not need to stay in a centre, they will be entitled to apply for standard social welfare assistance, equivalent to Irish citizens, subject to meeting the eligibility conditions.

The Government is making these changes in order to continue to meet the EU Temporary Protection Directive requirements, and to align more closely with other EU Member States.

They will not affect people from Ukraine who arrived in Ireland before this policy came into force and are already registered for temporary protection.