Mayo has over 4,000 refugees and international protection applicants

MAYO is currently has over 4,000 refugees and international protection applicants in state accommodation.

According to newly released figures, Mayo is accommodating 1,252 international protection applicants and 2,916 refugees from Ukraine – also known as Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection.

The true number of Ukrainians living in Mayo is likely to exceed 3,000, as the latest CSO figures show that PPS numbers have been issued to over 4,300 refugees from Ukraine with Mayo addresses. 

The CSO’s Arrivals from Ukraine series, last updated on October 8, also showed that 924 children from Ukraine were enrolled in schools in Mayo.

Seven-hundred-and-eighty people from Ukraine were also living with hosts currently in receipt of the government’s Accommodation Recognition Payment of €800 per month.

According to an analysis by the Irish Independent, Mayo is accommodating 5 percent of all Ukrainians living in short-term accommodation in the state.

Kerry is accommodating the highest percentage of Ukrainian refugees in short-term accommodation (12.4 percent), with 7,292 people.

Other counties accommodating a higher percentage than Mayo include Galway and Clare (both 6.4 percent), Donegal (8.9 percent), Cork (10 percent), Dublin (11.9 percent).

Population

IN proportion to its population, Mayo is accommodating the fourth-largest number of Ukrainian refugees of the 26 counties, with 2,125 people per 100,000. 

Leitrim, Clare and Kerry are all accommodating more people per 100,000 of their population, with Kerry coming out on top with 4,697 per 100,000.

Refugees from Ukraine were entitled to €232 per week in social welfare payments plus access to a medical card. However, the Cabinet recently approved a reduction in the payment to €38.80 per week and to limit access to state accommodation to new arrivals from Ukraine to 90 days.

Minister for Children, Disabilities, Equality, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman said his department contracts accommodation as the need arises and where ­accommodation is available.

Mayo has received over €2.2 million in funding for various projects from a €50 million community-recognition fund established to support communities hosting people from Ukraine and other countries.

Unrest

PROPALS to accommodate an unspecified number of Ukrainian refugees at the former Castlemacgarrett nursing home outside Castlebar were discussed at Mayo County Council’s monthly meeting. 

Over 200 people gathered in the car park of a church in Crossboyne village last Saturday to discuss the matter.

Local Fine Gael county councillor Tom Connolly has criticised the lack of communication from government around the proposal.

In an interview with The Mayo News, Cllr Connolly also described recent comments from his own party leader, Taoiseach Varadkar, as ‘nonsense’.

Reacting to recent protests over the proposed housing of 50 male international protection applicants in Ballinrobe, Taoiseach Varadkar said that nobody had a ‘veto’ on who gets to live in their communities.

“I’ll tell you one true thing, that’s wrong,” said Cllr Connolly.

“Will he have people in Dublin move in beside them? He will not. And everybody should be allowed to be informed of people moving into an estate of their background or near enough it and none of this nonsense that he’s saying.”

International protection

SEPERATELY, Mayo is also hosting the second-highest proportions of international protection applicants of any county.

A total of 1,252 international protection applicants from various countries are currently living in state accommodation in Mayo.

This amounts to 912.3 people per 100,000 residents – second only to Donegal, which is hosting 1,686 international protection applicants, or 1,013 per 100,000.

These figures do not include former international protection applicants who have obtained refugee status who are still living in state accommodation.

An international protection applicant refers to someone from another country who is seeking refugee status.

An adult seeking international protection receives an allowance of €38.80 a week; a child gets €29.90.

They may also apply for permission to work if they have not received a decision on their asylum application within six months of making it.

Ukrainian refugees are entitled to reside in Ireland on foot of the EU Temporary Protection Directive, which was activated by the EU Council in March 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.