This afternoon.
Kyiv, Ukraine.
A flack-jacketed Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, walking with Ukranian special forces and, controversially, Garda ERU, to lay flowers at a memorial wall to those slain in the conflict with Russia
Department of Foreign Affair /RollingNews
Earlier: At The Front
Eamon Ryan says the Government has NOT paused plans to ban the sale of turf, merely that it will have worked on finer details before plans announced in September. People who own bogland will still be able to cut turf on their land; clampdown is on industrial sale and distribution pic.twitter.com/1LeuaUSl4f
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) April 14, 2022
This morning.
Earlier…
From top: Eamon Ryan and Paschal Donohoe
This morning.
Via BreakingNews:
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that the Government will consider a detailed report about turf burning after Easter at which time a decision will be made about the proposed ban on the sale of turf.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Mr Donohoe said that no proposal in relation to a pause on the ban, as reportedly advocated by the Tánaiste, had come to Government.
However, on Newstalk Breakfast Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said there would be no pause in plans to ban the sale of turf. The comment by Mr Varadkar had been made at a Fine Gael meeting, not at a public meeting, he added.
Mr Ryan said that the concerns that people would be criminalised needed to be addressed and the details of the regulations better communicated.
Anyone?
No proposal to pause turf ban has come to Government, says Donohoe (BreakingNews)
Meanwhile…
“It is the case, as we move through this year and maybe beyond this, that we won’t be able to insulate our people, our economy, entirely from the effect of the war in Ukraine and what that means in effect for the price of energy,” says Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe pic.twitter.com/F30QUX0uF9
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 14, 2022
Um.
This morning.
Minister @simoncoveney is currently meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister @DmytroKuleba in Kyiv.
Ireland will continue to support #Ukraine in response to Russia’s unjustified invasion pic.twitter.com/IE2TKGuxUz
— Irish Foreign Ministry (@dfatirl) April 14, 2022
This morning.
Kyiv, Ukraine.
Meanwhile…
Mr Coveney entered Ukraine from Poland last night.
The Polish military provided assistance as far as the Ukrainian border, where he was met by Ukrainian special forces who are providing transport and security during his visit. He is also accompanied by a close protection team from the Garda Emergency Response Unit, and is travelling with the Irish Ambassador to Ukraine, Thérèse Healy.
Simon Coveney to discuss EU membership bid with Ukrainian government in Kyiv (Irish Times)
Major breech of security protocol here. Sending guards instead of soldiers to a war zone to protect a senior minister?!?🤷♂️
❌ No secure comms
❌ No paramedic
❌ No combat experience
➡️ No excuse if things goes wrong.Hope they’re lucky & get back OK🤞 https://t.co/JJU00UQiNy
— Cathal Berry TD (@BerryCathal) April 14, 2022
Anyone?
Woke up, checked Ryanair’s cheap flights options, chose “budget breaks”, and saw “Kyiv on a budget”. Wtf @Ryanair? Please be more considerate of others’ suffering ffshttps://t.co/Xm4VG5sqjg pic.twitter.com/hYcrkAf1CA
— Inês (@inestp29) April 13, 2022
Ah now.
This morning.
Ryanair slammed for continuing to promote Kyiv city breaks (Independent.co.uk)
Meanwhile…
When you send me a #scam e-mail it would be better if you did not offer me 1st class on Ryan Air 😂🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/ZRpgQbLS5W
— Mr.Marylebone (@MatthewFine0) April 13, 2022
Ah here.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien
This afternoon.
Via RTE news:
Following discussions at Cabinet this morning, the proportion of rental income, which must be paid under the Fair Deal scheme, will be cut from 80% to 40%.
Up to 8,000 Homes are currently vacant because their owners are in the care of nursing homes.
The Cabinet has heard that around 500 homes pledged by the public have now been passed on to local authorities who will allocate them to people from Ukraine seeking refuge here.
Some 13,000 calls have been made to those who offered accommodation and the aim is to have followed up on all the pledges by the end of the Easter period.
Earlier: Please Pick Up
Previously: Fair Swap
This morning.
Via RTÉ News:
The Cabinet will hear this morning that more than 22,000 people from Ukraine have arrived here since 25 February.
So far, 14,155 people have sought accommodation from State services.
Efforts are being stepped up to process the offers of accommodation pledged by the public.
So far, only about half of those who offered accommodation are answering these calls.
Defence Forces personnel are contacting more than 1,200 property owners every day as they work through the 24,000 or so pledges of accommodation.
Meanwhile…
It is now likely that camp beds in community halls will be used in the next few days to accommodate people.
Community hall camp beds likely to be used for Ukrainians fleeing war (RTE)
This afternoon.
Unidentified location, Dublin.
The Arnotts Choir with member Clare McCabe (in blue) together with her daughter, former X Factor contestant, Melanie McCabe (in yellow), who have recorded a cover version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Heal the World’ as a charity single to help raise funds for the UNICEF Ukraine Emergency Appeal. Release date unspecified.
People think they’re sisters.
We did in anyhow.
Leon Farrel /Photocall Ireland
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien
The Government are considering payments for holiday home owners if they make properties available to those arriving here from Ukraine, Minister for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has told @morningireland | Read more: https://t.co/Qpz21n2BtP pic.twitter.com/d64SwfgagD
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 12, 2022
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien tells @morningireland that holiday home owners might get a payment if they make properties available to those arriving here from Ukraine. He said the “first focus” is on existing buildings but he is also willing to use emergency planning powers
— Mícheál Lehane (@MichealLehane) April 12, 2022
This morning.
Via RTÉ News:
Housing Ministersaid that during a meeting with industry stakeholders yesterday, all options available to house refugees were discussed.
There has been a trawl of vacant buildings that are available, he said, adding that about 500 of these were identified by local authorities.
“It’s most efficient to use the existing stuff that we have there,” Mr O’Brien added.
There are emergency procurement procedures that will be used to “get the work done”, he said, but with some buildings it will take months to complete.
Government examines payment for use of holiday homes to house refugees (RTE)
Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Arbour Hill yesterday
This morning.
Via Irish Times:
There are acute concerns in Government about capacity to house Ukrainian refugees, with the available supply of hotel and B&B places almost exhausted.
While senior officials said facilities such as large halls with camp beds and tents were unlikely to be required before Easter, sources were unwilling to rule them out beyond that.
A scramble for additional sources of accommodation is under way across all arms of government and local authorities, with an emergency summit of the construction and property industry due to be held on Monday by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.
Fears grow in Government about Irish capacity to house Ukrainian refugees (Irish Times)
Meanwhile…
…via Irish Examiner:
In terms of the influx of Ukrainian people fleeing the war, Taoiseach Micheál Martinsaid it is going to become extremely challenging because over 20,000 people have come into the country in a matter of weeks.
He said such an influx is unprecedented in terms of anything we have experienced before in relation to refugees fleeing a conflict zone and a war.
Asked about people living in large communal halls, he said the number of public pledges of help “is not as large as originally anticipated”
We have to move fast in terms of going through all the pledges for example, not all of them have been processed or gone through and there’s some opportunities there.
Number of Irish pledges to house refugees ‘not as large as originally anticipated’ (Irish Examiner)
