PAYMENTS TO PEOPLE housing Ukrainian refugees who applied for the €400 monthly payment amounts to €2.9 million to date.

Payments have been made to some 2,348 individuals who have offered rooms and vacant properties to those fleeing the Ukraine war.

The number of applicants has increased by almost 1,000 in the period of a week.

Liam O’Dwyer, secretary general of the Irish Red Cross, previously told The Irish Times that such an increase would be expected as refugees move out of student accomodation. 

The scheme is open to hosts of eligible accommodation whether pledged through the Irish Red Cross or made available privately.

“Almost €2.9m has been issued in payments to date on processed claims. Claims continue to be processed and payments issued to eligible applicants,” said the Department of Children and Equality.

The roll out of the €400 payment, which is opt-in, was agreed by Government in May.

Households do not have to avail of the payment, but if they do it is backdated to the time they began hosting the refugee or refugees. 

The payment is to be a flat €400 regardless of the number of refugees being hosted and will apply to pledged accommodation whether the individuals are staying in vacant accommodation or sharing the same property as the householder. 

The payment is made to households that have committed to hosting refugees for six months. 

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) release at the beginning of last month found there have been 47,962 Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSNs) issued to individuals from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Women aged 20 and over account for 47% of arrivals to date, while individuals aged 0-19 (both male and female) account for 36%.