Time to end the grossly unfair Accommodation Recognition Payment. It should be a national outrage that Irish taxpayers are funding a scheme that is directly contributing to increased Irish homelessness. The ARP for Ukrainians is inflating rental prices and driving the indigenous Irish population out of their communities. It is non means tested, Ukrainians can work full time and still receive ARP. Landlords receive a tax free amount of €600 per month and there is wide reporting of abuse of the scheme, with Ukrainians providing top up payments of cash per month to the landlord, leading to over inflated rents. The scheme discriminates against Irish people who cannot compete for rental properties in their own locality, and are literally being driven onto the streets. The State are moving Ukrainians out of hotels to make way for international protection applicants, leading to the numbers of properties under the scheme significantly rising since January 2025. The Government quietly inserted a provision under S.I. No. 376/2023 – Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023 to allow them to use accommodation previously used for Ukrainians for international protection applicants. This is why we are now witnessing a current massive increase in landlords renting properties under the ARP scheme to Ukrainians, which is having a detrimental impact on our already record high numbers of Irish homelesness. Since the scheme launched in July 2022, over €339m has been provided to landlords by taxpayers under this scheme which discriminates against the Irish people. Irish homelessness has hit a record high of 15,915.

Posted by Fred Bassett