Payment for housing Ukrainian refugees to be wound down this year

Kenneth Fox

A monthly payment to those who accommodate Ukrainian people in their spare rooms or second homes will be wound down over the next year.

The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP), a tax-free monthly payment, will be further reduced from €600 to €400 per month as part of Government's plans to wind down temporary protections for Ukrainian people.

As The Irish Times reports, Minister of State Colm Brophy also confirmed the Government wants to move towards the “reduction and eventual elimination” of hotel accommodation being contracted to accommodate Ukrainian people.

The ARP, which was introduced in 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has accommodated 42,000 people in 23,500 properties at a monthly cost of €14.5 million

The scheme, which had been due to expire this month, will be extended once more to March 2027. But Brophy said “the time for the scheme” is “coming to a conclusion”.

“It is therefore my view that we will be extending the scheme, as indicated, for 12 months. This will be part of a phasing-out process of the scheme of the ARP. It will also be the intention to reduce the payment from €600 to €400 as part of that phasing-out of ARP, and that, I believe, will enable us to have a gradual winding-down scheme,” he told the Dáil on Thursday.

“Ukrainians, who have enjoyed temporary protection in Ireland, are a welcome part of our community. There are many, many opportunities for them to avail of housing within their own right.

"Many, many Ukrainians are doing that at this moment, and I believe in terms of the ARP scheme, we are going to work on a process of making it very clear that that scheme will be coming to an end.”

The scheme initially offered a tax-free payment of €400 a month to those who offered accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.

The government was already facing pressures on its supply of accommodation for international protection applicants and needed the assistance of the public to help house Ukrainians who had fled to Ireland.