Ireland prepares financial incentives to encourage Ukrainian refugees to voluntarily return home

The article stated that, on the matter of Ukrainian refugees, Irish ministers are leaning towards either ending the temporary protection directive, or towards an alternative option that would limit support solely to people from the worst-affected areas of Ukraine.

Colm Brophy, Minister of State for Migration, said the government will move to terminate the remaining contracts under which about 16,000 Ukrain­ians were accommodated.

“That is what we want to really end," he said.

"We want to end the situation where the 16,000 that came at the very start, that have effectively been accommodated by the state since their arrival, that we would be pulling out of that. Because no other EU state is providing that.”

He also noted that Ukrainian refugees will need to leave the country due to their contracts ending. According to him, the schedule, which must be approved by the government, could be implemented within the next 12 months.

According to Brophy, officials are working on a way for Ukrainians to return home once the directive expires. According to it, Ukrainians will be encouraged to return home, and will be offered financial assistance to do so.

Asylum seekers can now apply for up to €2,500 ($2,9k) per person or up to €10,000 ($11,7k) per family to return to their country of origin.

The publication noted that since February 2022, more than 125 thousand Ukrainians have received temporary protection in Ireland. From July 2022 to March of this year, nearly 28 thousand host families received over €438 million ($515M) in compensation for housing 64 thousand Ukrainian refugees. 

On April 14, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Berlin supports Ukraine's efforts to restrict the departure of men of military age to European Union countries.