Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien (Photo by Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images)
The Government is reviewing the €800 payment made to people who host Ukrainian refugees.
The payment was previously €400 per month and was upped to €800 to accommodate Ukrainians in any spare rooms or empty properties owned by members of the public.
However, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien told the Dáil the payment was now being reviewed after Sinn Féin said it was unfair to other renters.
Mr O’Brien said the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) was being looked at in the context of the EU Temporary Protection directive, which grants Ukrainian refugees EU protection.
“We do not want to see a situation where properties which were previously on the rental market… that’s being looked at,” he said.
Mr Doherty said the €800 was paid to people housing Ukrainians, regardless of whether the refugee is working or their income.
He said it provided an “advantage to Ukrainians that isn’t available to other renters out there”.
“It is pricing ordinary renters out of the market. It is not fair,” he said. “Will you end the scheme in the way that Sinn Féin proposed earlier this year?”
In February, the party put down an amendment to the scheme, which was voted down by the Government.
“What our amendment dealt with is the €800 tax-free payment which is made available to landlords and host families who make properties available to Ukrainians and the extension of this scheme for another year,” Mr Doherty said at the time.
“The Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme was brought in two years ago at a time of great uncertainty, but we now need to look at its impact and fairness.”
Mr Doherty said that in his constituency of Donegal, where the average rent is close to €800, a landlord could either rent out a property to a private renter for €800, subject to tax, or take €800 tax-free and rent it out to a beneficiary of temporary protection.
“This would leave the landlord hundreds of euros better off.”
