It has been four years since the Eviston House Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, began accommodating Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country.
Next month the final 93 Ukrainian residents are due to move on as the family-run hotel’s contract with the Department of Justice ends.
For Patrick Eviston, the hotel’s managing director, the conclusion of the arrangement and the return of the hotel to its original purpose brings “mixed” feelings.
He and his late wife had for many years hosted children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, so opening the hotel to people seeking refuge after Russia’s invasion “was not just a financial decision”, he says.
The tourism industry was still recovering from the pandemic restrictions when the invasion of Ukraine occurred in February 2022. Just a few months later the hotel’s 112 rooms were filled with Ukrainians, although its pub and restaurant remained open to the public.
“We took them in and were delighted to have them,” he says. “Over time the numbers started going down. Some people felt it was safe to return to Ukraine; some found alternative accommodation. Long-term, this is not the most suitable.”
Sixteen months ago the business resumed some general accommodation bookings. But this will be the first summer when the Eviston, which opened in 1990, returns to being solely a hotel in the traditional sense.
He says the Government alerted them that contracts would be shortened, and the hotel was “probably on the same page because we want to get back to our normal business”.
Still, he has conflicting emotions.
“We have had these guests for a long time and we know them very well,” he says.
Some of them are employed in the hotel, while others work in the town, he says, adding that he believes the Government has onward placements planned for them nearby.
Patrick Eviston, managing director of the Eviston House Hotel: ‘We took them in and were delighted to have them.’
The Eviston will not be alone in returning to its usual mode of business.
This week the Government announced it would be withdrawing tourist and commercial accommodation housing from up to 16,000 Ukrainians. The 12-month process is due to begin in August.
[ State-funded Ukrainian hotel accommodation to be wound down over next 12 monthsOpens in new window ]
The State has been gradually reducing its reliance on hotels to house Ukrainians, with the Department of Justice saying the need for accommodation for Ukrainians is “reducing and this is expected to continue”.
About 420 accommodation contracts ended in 2024 and 195 ended last year, releasing some 27,000 beds for tourism, student and other accommodation.
The move to end the use of commercial tourism properties for State-supported housing Ukrainians was welcomed by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation.
“When so many tourism beds were taken out, particularly in rural Ireland, it became a problem. It has really reduced,” says Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, chief executive of the industry representative group.
ITIC chief executive Eoghan O’Mara-Walsh
“We have always said the Government should not have been using commercial bed stock for humanitarian purposes. There should be State developments or local authority buildings.”
For every €1 a tourist visitor spends on accommodation they will spend €2.50 in other parts of the local economy, such as local restaurants, shops and visitor attractions, O’Mara Walsh notes, citing data from Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism authority.
“For every hotel bedroom taken up by nontourists, secondary tourism revenue is missed out on … The tourism and hotel sectors have done their bit for the Ukraine situation, and lots of beds were given over to the Government on that basis. It was only a matter of time until that had to be rectified.”
The tourism sector needs an adequate bed supply to grow, he says, adding that hotel prices, like all services, are based on “supply”.
“We are already an expensive country, but we always have to make sure we are delivering value for money,” he adds.
Fáilte Ireland data from last November found there were some 54,460 tourism-adjacent beds under State contract, including for non-Ukrainian international protection applications. This is down from 84,497 two years previously. The authority says about 14,000 of those occupied last winter were registered with Fáilte Ireland, while the remainder were likely to have been operating in the tourism sector.
Alongside the phasing out of tourism accommodation use, the Government announced it will be winding down the Accommodation Recognition Payment scheme, with a reduction to €400 per month in September and payments ceasing next March. This change will affect about 42,000 people living in host properties throughout the State, it said.
The Government’s plans have been sharply criticised by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum, a coalition of 122 organisations supporting Ukrainians here.
With the war in Ukraine continuing, and Unicef last month declaring “no child is safe” in Ukraine, the removal of accommodation support is “irresponsible and traumatising”, says the forum’s national co-ordinator, Brian Killoran.
Brian Killoran, chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Photograph: Laura Hutton
The announcement came without warning through the media, with few details, causing “a huge amount of panic and stress”, he says.
“We need clarity and we need essentially a well-thought-through plan for how we transition away from the temporary protection system,” he says. He notes many Ukrainians here are single parents with children who are on a “journey to self-sufficiency” but will struggle in the private rental market.
Mother and daughter Olena and Viktoriia, from the occupied territory of Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine, have been living in a hotel in Virginia, Co Cavan. They say they have been feeling “terrible” since the announcement.
“We understand all the hotels need to go back to the tourism sector, but for us from the occupied territory, we don’t have anywhere to go,” says Viktoriia, adding that they lived under occupation for three months before fleeing to Ireland.
This is the second time they have faced uncertainty about their living situation since arriving here in May 2022. Two years ago they had to leave the Bridge Restaurant & Guesthouse in Drumavanagh, Co Cavan. She says it has not yet reopened to the public.
[ Monthly payment for housing Ukrainian refugees to be phased outOpens in new window ]
Viktoriia says they looked everywhere for local accommodation at that time but, as they could not find anything, they accepted relocation to a hotel in Virginia. Her mother had to quit her job but found new work as a chef, says Viktoriia, an online student.
“We cannot be thankful enough to the Irish people and how they treated us here, but … we would like a bit of a clear future,” she says, adding that they need some “structural support” from the Government as rental accommodation is “extremely limited”.
Olena notes the rental crisis does not just affect Ukrainians.
“Irish people have emigrated to other societies because of this. It is a big problem. The Government needs to do something,” she says.
Two of the communities most affected by the State’s use of hotels for Ukrainians and international protection applicants have been Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan in north Co Clare, near the Cliffs of Moher.
Lisdoonvarna. Photograph: Rebecca Black/PA
Local Fine Gael councillor Joe Garrihy says the areas played a “disproportionate” role in Ireland’s response to the Ukraine crisis, with the communities responding “very positively”.
Garrihy says tourism is a significant part of the economy in Lisdoonvarna, which is just a 10-minute drive from the cliffs. However, at peak, the four larger of Lisdoonvarna’s seven hotels were used for State accommodation, he says. This has dropped to three since Ukrainians at the 110-room Hydro Hotel were relocated.
The Hydro Hotel was put up for sale last May, and Garrihy says he believes a new owner is hoping to reopen it as a hotel.
The local Ukrainians have been “absolutely fabulous” and shown “remarkable resilience”, but a more than doubling of the rural town’s population has brought about “complex” challenges, he says.
Garrihy says Lisdoonvarna had just been recovering from the pandemic when the Ukraine crisis occurred. Before that, many of the hotels were only open for six to eight months of the year. Private businesses accepted Government contracts for commercial reasons, he says, adding that the return to tourism would also be grounded upon commercial business decisions.
But, he says, the Government and Fáilte Ireland have a responsibility to ensure a just recovery of the tourism economies of communities who have been so welcoming and “earned the right to a sustainable future”.
He says many of the arrivals now work in local hospitality and tourism businesses, so they will be part of the rebuilding.
Ukrainians too need a “real transitional approach” and cannot be abandoned now, he says. “There is a real desire from the people in north Clare to see this through.”
A Department of Justice spokesman says the Government’s proposals and future support for Ukrainians are being developed in line with a recent European Council recommendation for a co-ordinated approach to transitioning people out of temporary protection.
“Ireland intends to continue to support people from Ukraine who are beneficiaries of temporary protection,” he says.