When the war in Ukraine broke out four years ago, one of the few pieces of hope and light in that time was the warmth, the generosity and the solidarity many people showed to those fleeing. They opened up their homes and provided those who had lost everything with somewhere they could feel safe. We talk about integration in this country and this scheme is a brilliant example of it. It formed the basis of bonds, friendships and involvement in communities in every corner of this country. These bonds meant that just last week we saw Ukrainians marching in local St. Patrick's Day parades up and down the country, celebrating the communities they are now a part of. One family my office spoke to told us about the bonds they have formed with the Ukrainian family they host. An elderly woman has hosted a mother and son these past years, and if this payment ceases, her property will not go back on the market because she did this not to be a landlady but, as the Minister of State pointed out, out of solidarity. This family spoke about the vulnerability their Ukrainian guests face as they do not have the means to rent privately. They spoke about how this mother and son's home in Ukraine is rubble now and that they have nowhere to return to. They rightly pointed out that the war is not set to end anytime soon. Cén fáth, mar sin, a bhfuil an Rialtas ag cur deiridh leis an tacaíocht seo? Stopping this payment means putting an additional 40,000 people into an already dire housing market. Every month we are faced with spiralling homelessness figures, and instead of addressing that crisis, the solution being put forward by the Government is performative cruelty and pandering to the far right. This will not put properties back on the rental market for "native Irish", which seems to be the goal here. This will not make anyone's lives better. We will see many people's lives made much worse. All the words we have heard in the Chamber in recent years about unwavering support for Ukraine ring hollow when we see a measure put through that is deliberately hurting Ukrainians in Ireland. These are real people and real families involved in both hosting and being hosted. They are part of our communities, and the removal of this support means they will all be worse off. We will have more pressure on the private rental market and more homelessness. It is beyond frustrating and disappointing that we see this Government turn its back on those who have fled an ongoing war and who have no home to return to. I feel the need to say it is deeply wrong. I too have hosted somebody, not from Ukraine. This was a young man from Ethiopia who had aged out of the Tusla foster system. Tusla seeks out people who will rent out rooms at a nominal rate in order that they can get on their feet essentially in readiness for a horrifically competitive private rental market which few are ready for. I know the value it brought to him and to his life and I know what it brought to me. It just makes me so sad that this is what this Government is thinking of doing and that it wants to phase this out, when we know that it works and we know that those families who host have got so much out of this. In my previous role, I warned that there would be a two-tier response because of the temporary protection directive and how much better its terms and conditions are compared to the international protection system. However, all this Government seems to do when it is presented with that problem is go to the lowest common denominator. There is a way we can make the system better for everybody without simply going to the lowest common denominator.

Sentiment score: -0.08