According to the Department of Children's announcement released Wednesday, Dublin’s Citywest Hotel has reached capacity, as it was recently repurposed as accommodation for Ukrainian asylum seekers.
The country has no more places to host Ukrainian refugees. According to authorities those asylum seekers expected to arrive in the coming days are at the risk of being stranded at Dublin Airport. Reports indicate that about 250 people stayed in an old terminal building on Wednesday night.
It was expected that the Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin would be with his cabinet on Thursday for assessing the situation. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister said that 70 percent of those in the Citywest installations are not Ukrainian, but refugees from other countries.
Since the beginning of the Russian special operation, Ireland has been hosting Ukrainian refugees, which by Monday, accounted for 40 678 people. The Irish government has stood by the idea that restricting the influx was out of the question.
With a population of a few over five million, the influx of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland could be represented by roughly one in 100 people during the last four months.
Darragh O’Brien, Irish Housing Minister said that the country “will not support” a “cap on immigration and a cap on asylum into this country,” answering to the agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, who said that Dublin could afford to host as many as 200 000 Ukrainian refugees.