THE GOVERNMENT HAS agreed a €400 monthly payment for households that are hosting Ukrainian refugees. 

The payment will be opt-in, so households do not have to avail of the payment, but if they do it will be 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. 

Speaking this afternoon, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman says the scheme will be administered Department of Social Protection and will apply to households that have committed to hosting refugees for six months. 

O’Gorman said it is “the government’s intention” to see the first payments in the scheme made by the end of July.

“Individuals seeking payments will have to self-declare, they’ll have to provide details of their PPS, the PPS of Ukrainians living in their property and Eircode etc,” O’Gorman said. 

There will be penalties in the event of any false declarations being made. The payments won’t be assessed for taxation purposes and won’t interfere with any other social protection payments either. 

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O’Gorman said today at present there were 900 Ukrainians living in pledged accommodation across the country but that the full cost of the scheme could not yet be established. 

He added that he expects that “significant numbers of families” will not decide to apply for the payment. 

“We are aware that there are significant numbers of families who probably won’t take this up, that they’re doing this as a gesture of solidarity but we also thought it was important to have it as a recognition of the additional costs that families will bear for for this offer of solidarity.”