Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 May 2026
421. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of people from Ukraine who have travelled back and forth to the Ukraine in each of the last five years. [35971/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2025, the Justice and Home Affairs Council extended Temporary Protection until March 2027, providing certainty for beneficiaries who can continue to avail of the protections that the Directive provides.
Under Article 2, the Temporary Protection Directive applies to the following groups of people who have had to flee Ukraine due to the invasion by Russia:
a) Ukrainian nationals who were residing in Ukraine before 24 February 2022;
b) Nationals of a third country (other than Ukraine) or a stateless person who would have benefited from international protection (for example: Refugee status) or an equivalent national protection status in Ukraine and were residing there before 24 February 2022;
c) Family members of persons covered by a) and b), where their family already existed in Ukraine, prior to 24 February, 2022.
Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection are permitted to be outside the State for short periods. They do not need to seek the consent of the Minister to leave the State and are free to return to Ukraine if they so wish. As there are no routine exit checks on people leaving the State it is not possible to say how many beneficiaries of temporary protection have travelled outside of Ireland.
My Department has recently updated its absence policy from state provided accommodation. The updated policy can be found here:www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/publications/ukraine-crisis-temporary-accommodation-team-policies/. Someone benefiting from Temporary Protection can only be absent from their accommodation for a single two- week period, or a maximum of 21 days in a year.
