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The Coalition lifted a ban on utilizing former nursing properties as lodging centres earlier this yr, however the services should be vacant for as much as two years (together with a six-month de-registration course of and 18 months totally vacant) earlier than they are often repurposed to make use of to accommodate asylum-seekers and refugees.
A brand new protocol was additionally launched in the summertime, stipulating that scholar lodging should be vacant for a yr earlier than it may be transformed into housing for refugees and asylum-seekers.
Nevertheless, Mr Varadkar has rejected calls to loosen these guidelines within the wake of the acute scarcity of lodging, and as an alternative prompt they may very well be “toughened up”.
Mr Varadkar mentioned that whereas the Coalition didn’t wish to be within the present scenario of getting to accommodate individuals in tents, he was involved that loosening the foundations would have an hostile impact on neighborhood relations inside areas the place the previous scholar lodging or nursing properties are positioned.
“We’ve to think about any possibility that’s obtainable to us with regards to lodging,” he mentioned, “however we should be cautious about repurposing scholar lodging and nursing properties, for instance, to accommodate refugees or worldwide safety candidates.
“I’m not saying it ought to by no means be achieved, however I feel that if communities really feel they’re dropping a nursing residence or dropping their scholar lodging to worldwide safety or to refugees, that doesn’t assist us make the case in favour of treating refugees properly and accepting new individuals into your space. So we simply must be cognisant of all that.”
Mr Varadkar mentioned the Authorities was not proposing to alter the insurance policies regarding the usage of former nursing properties and scholar lodging, and, in actual fact, the foundations may very well be tightened additional.
“We’re not proposing to alter that. I feel it’s one yr for scholar lodging in the mean time and two years for nursing properties,” he mentioned.
“If something, we would make that longer, as a result of there’s a concern that some scholar lodging suppliers and a few nursing suppliers may select to deliver the nursing residence or scholar lodging out of service within the hope they will do higher financially, by then making it obtainable in a yr or two for refugee or IP lodging.
“We simply should be sensible to that danger. Some nursing properties are simply outdated, they’re less than normal, and a few scholar lodging is sub-standard.
“What you’ll see typically is {that a} new nursing residence will get constructed and the outdated nursing residence can then be repurposed for lodging, in order that’s OK.”
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