Ukrainian refugees in Ireland
A specialised unit will shortly be put in place to meet refugees from Ukraine as they arrive at airports and ports in Ireland, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman has said.
Mr O’Gorman acknowledged the portal through which Irish people can register their willingness to provide accommodation for refugees from Ukraine crashed last night, but confirmed it was back up on Tuesday morning.
Around 1,800 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Ireland since the outbreak of war, while more than 2,420 pledges to accommodate them have been made by the public to date.
Russian embassy concerns
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has expressed concern that an incident which saw a man drive a large truck into the gates of the Russian embassy in Dublin on Monday will be misrepresented in Russian media.
"It may be the case that the person behind it had strong feelings on this issue, but it was not helpful at all," he said. "That will now be misrepresented in Russian state TV as Irish people being involved in violent acts against Russians."
The embassy has condemned the incident as a "violation of its territory", alleging that gardaí “stood idle” as it occurred.
A church supplier charged with criminal damage and dangerous driving over the incident was released on bail earlier today.
Fuel theft warning
Gardaí are warning homeowners to secure their home heating oil after reports of theft around the country as prices increase dramatically.
A Garda spokesperson said: "Oil prices are rising so sharply that oil tanks are now being targeted. The last time something similar to this happened was during the recession in 2008 onwards."
Consumers are also feeling the pinch at the petrol and diesel pumps, with increasing numbers of service stations selling petrol and diesel at more than €2 a litre.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, Irish consumers will unavoidably continue to be impacted by price hikes and possible shortages, with the main areas of concern explained here.
Covid compensation
The families of healthcare workers who died from Covid-19 are set to receive a payment of €100,000 from the State, under plans going to Cabinet today.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will seek approval for a scheme that will cover a small number of healthcare workers who contracted the virus in the workplace.
It is believed that the families or estates of more than 20 workers will benefit from the payment, with 21 deaths related to the disease among healthcare workers according to figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
These include HSE staff, locum, agency and contract workers, those in private nursing homes and cleaning staff.
