A total of 86 Ukrainians were evicted from State-provided accommodation for leaving without permission in one year, between 9 October 2023 and 9 October 2024, after a change in policy meant that such absences were no longer permitted.
The figures were released to RTÉ News under the Freedom of Information Act.
Last November, RTÉ News reported that organisations supporting Ukrainian refugees in Ireland had raised concerns about people being evicted for leaving accommodation without permission.
A spokesperson for the Department of Integration said its accommodation absence policy ensured that the State was “not paying for empty beds” except for in “exceptional circumstances”.
However, at the time, they said that the department did “not collect information regarding how many people have been asked to leave their accommodation following an unsanctioned absence”.
On 9 October 2023 the absence protocol was changed for Ukrainians living in accommodation such as hotels and guest-houses, to suspend a “short-term absence allowance”.
Under the updated policy, people can only leave for one night or more in “exceptional circumstances”, which must be approved by the Department of Integration’s Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team.
A department spokesperson said unapproved absences are “considered a refusal of emergency accommodation”.
However, the department confirmed that a person “may retroactively apply” for approval.
Under the updated protocol evictions for unsanctioned absences are not automatic. Instead, it states that the Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team “reserves the right to implement its Refusals Policy”.
The figures obtained under FOI show that it was almost five months before the first person was issued with a letter stating that their absence had been deemed “a refusal of accommodation under the Refusals Policy”.
The letter goes on to say: “Consequently, the Department has discharged you from this accommodation. Under the current accommodation policy of the Department, you will not be offered any further accommodation.”
This first letter was sent on 1 March 2024.
Eight such letters, which effectively evicted Ukrainians from State-provided accommodation, were sent that month.
In April 11 were sent, nine were sent in May, 11 in June, 12 in July, 14 in August, 15 in September, and six from 1 October to 9 October, which marked one year after the policy was changed.
“We welcome this information coming into the public domain,” the National Coordinator of the Ukraine Civil Society Forum, Emma Lane Spollen said.
Ms Lane Spollen said that a decision to “take someone’s accommodation away “was “very serious”.
“Vulnerable people are being placed in precarious situations,” Ms Lane Spollen said.
She has called for “full transparency” in relation to the implementation of this policy, “with an analysis of the reasons for the person being evicted published” along with information on “where decisions were appealed successfully”.
