I oppose this new cut to the accommodation recognition payment. This is the second cut to the payment, which was previously cut from €800 to €600, and now the Government wants to cut it further to €400. The Irish Red Cross has written to all of us outlining the devastating impact this cut will have not only on the 41,072 people who rely on it to keep a roof over their heads but, potentially, on the wider migration and accommodation systems in this country. Already since the Government announced its intention to cut the ARP, an increasing number of hosting arrangements are ending. A Red Cross survey of hosts found that the current rate of €600 was important for 86% of them to continue hosting. If even a fraction of that 86% stop hosting because they simply cannot afford it any more, what will it mean? It will mean thousands or tens of thousands of newly homeless people, overwhelmingly women, children and families. These people will not have the right to emergency accommodation. Very many of them will have no choice but to go on the streets. This will be the consequence of the decision. Is this what the Government wants? Is it what Sinn Féin wants? Sinn Féin's contribution to this debate, not just today but every time we have discussed it, has simply been to say to go after the Ukrainians harder and make it even more difficult for them to access accommodation than the Government wants to make it. Sinn Féin's amendment also manufactures a non-existing conflict between the ARP and the rent-a-room scheme by saying that ARP hosts must not have availed of the scheme in the past two years. A landlord can earn €1,166 a month tax free under the rent-a-room scheme compared to €600 now and €400 in the future through the ARP. Nobody who is solely motivated by money would choose the ARP over the rent-a-room scheme. It is not competing with the private rental market. The vast majority of hosts are hosting people in their own homes out of humanitarian concern and humanitarian motivation. With this cut, many of them simply will not be able to do it any more. The only other option open to many Ukrainians forced out of their homes as a result of this cut will be to apply for international protection. What happens if tens of thousands of people do this? The system will become even more overwhelmed. That is what happened in France when over 11,000 applications for international protection were made by Ukrainians last year. Is this what the Government wants? Is this what Sinn Féin wants? They might not but they seem prepared to take the risk that this is what is going to happen for the perceived political gain of being seen to be hard on immigration and hard on Ukrainians in particular. It is a glaring contradiction for the Government in particular, with it hosting President Zelenskyy in Dublin, talking about doing everything we can for the Ukrainian people and praising them on the one hand and, on the other, turfing tens of thousands of Ukrainians out onto the streets. The temporary protection transition scheme, due to open for applications in September, is to be limited to households earning at least €29,432 a year that somehow manage to pay for accommodation privately out of this. ARP recipients are not eligible. With average rents at €21,060 a year, this would be some achievement when the median wage of Ukrainian workers according to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, is less than €30,000.

Sentiment score: -0.06