Colm Brophy

We want to work to a situation which we believe is all about equality and fairness, where people have equal access to accommodation.

As we have closed, and we have closed a number of accommodation units over the last number of months as actual Ukrainian numbers have gone down,

Most Ukrainians have moved themselves into private accommodation and have been very good at finding private accommodation.

We believe that trend will continue.

But we actually do think that as we move from what was, and it's in its own name, a temporary situation, temporary protection was designed to be temporary to a long-term situation, we must have an equality whereby if Ukrainian people are working away and able to have the benefits of working within the European Union, access to accommodation is on the same basis as everyone else.

Well, I think it's quite important to recognise we're probably talking about iPads as well on that in the switch over there.

So it is our clear wish and desire that where there is a hotel facility and the government is no longer involved in a contract with it for whether it be Ukraine or whether it be international protection, that it would go back into the hospitality and tourism area.

These are privately owned buildings.

These are privately owned commercial companies.

They have their own rights to choose what they want to do.

We would like to see them going back into hospitality, particularly where prior to being, whether it was Ukrainian or an IPAS centre, they were directly in hospitality.

I do recognise, though, that a number of the buildings were actually empty for a number of years prior.

before they became centres so it's not they weren't really hotels so it's not as easy to see that happen in a straight line but we'd certainly like to see them go back to hospitality OK Minister of Safe for Migration Colin Brophy thank you so much for joining us next the second coming of the Sons of Southern Ulster

We want to recognise how we can best put in place the structures to deal with this on a sustained basis in the future.

And there are a couple of things we actually looked at doing in relation to that.

The first is we'll be actually looking at how we put in place, at the request of the Ukrainians, because the Ukrainian government has been clear on this from day one, that they wanted citizens to be able to go back.

They're looking at pilot programmes, which we would like to be involved in, to help Ukrainians return.

Secondly, what we're actually looking at is moving away, and we believe this is correct, from commercial providers of accommodation to enabling a situation where Ukrainians are providing their own accommodation.

Where accommodation has closed down or has been moved already, 50% of Ukrainians don't take up the offer of free accommodation that was there.

They actually move into their own accommodation and they want to.