4 days ago
Ireland to back proposal to extend EU protection for Ukrainian refugees into 2027
Ireland will support a proposal to extend
European Union
protection for people fleeing the
war in Ukraine
for another year into 2027 when EU justice and home affairs ministers meet later this week.
Ukrainians arriving in EU countries since the Russian invasion in 2022 have benefited from temporary protection.
More than 112,000 people from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland over those three years, though almost a third of these are believed to have since left the State.
There are almost 33,000 people from Ukraine in State-supported accommodation at 320 locations around the country.
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Temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees in the EU is due to expire in March 2026. However, with no end in sight to the war, the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council is expected to reach a political agreement on extending temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine until March 2027.
Minister for Justice
Jim O'Callaghan
, who is due to attend the meeting in Luxembourg later this week, briefed Cabinet on how Ireland will support the proposal to extend the protection into 2027 in principle.
At the beginning of February, there were 112,189 beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine, an increase of 8,833 or 8.5 per cent on the same time in 2024, according to annual figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
However, the number of active PPSNs in November belonging to Ukrainian people was just 71 per cent of the total, suggesting 29 per cent have most likely left the State and are living elsewhere.
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In January last year, the Government reduced payments to new arrivals from €232 a week to €38.80. Since that move there has been no month where the number of newly arrived Ukrainian refugees has surpassed 700.
As of the February statistics, women and children make up three-quarters of all Ukrainian refugees, and 23,803 were working.
Counterterrorism
Separately, Mr O'Callaghan received Cabinet approval to publish a law aimed at strengthening Ireland's counterterrorism laws.
A
Department of Justice
statement said the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025 will 'allow for the prosecution of a broader range of terrorist activities in light of the evolving nature of terrorism'.
These include terrorist acts with a cross-Border element, and cyberattacks where the aim is to cause widespread harm.
This bill – which includes three new offences: receiving training for terrorism; travelling for the purposes of terrorism; and organising or facilitating travelling for the purposes of terrorism – will bring Ireland's counterterrorism laws into line with those of other EU member states.
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Mr O'Callaghan said the proposed Bill will 'strengthen Ireland's laws by broadening the scope of prosecutable offences in respect of terrorist activity and marks a significant step forward in ensuring that Ireland's counterterrorism framework is robust and fit for purpose in the face of modern terrorist threats'.
Along with the new offences, Mr O'Callaghan said the Bill 'also permits courts, when sentencing a person convicted of recruiting or providing training for terrorism, to treat as an aggravating factor that the offence was committed against a child'.
