Officials in the Department of Integration pushed back against moves to end the practice of paying for the pets of Ukrainian refugees to stay in hotels, which was costing taxpayers up to €1 million a month.

Emails seen by the Irish Mirror show that senior figures argued against plans to pull the plug on the practice, citing the importance of pets to children and the unpleasantness of having to inform owners of the policy change at reception centres.

Another official also raised concerns that the state could be sued for breach of contract if it suddenly stopped paying for the accommodation of pets from Ukraine.

This week, an investigation by the Irish Mirror revealed that 1,806 dogs, cats and other animals had been put up in hotels and other state-funded accommodation at a cost of up to €1 million a month.

These included both pets that had travelled to Ireland from Ukraine with their owners, and animals that refugees had acquired since arriving in the country.

READ MORE: Government accused of 'taking the pi**' as €1m a month spent on Ukrainian refugee pet accommodation

The issue was raised in the Dáil earlier today by Clare TD Michael McNamara, who had described the expenditure as “ridiculous” and said the Government was “taking the p**s out of the Irish taxpayer”.

The controversial policy remained in force for the first eight months of the Ukraine crisis, but internal emails show that discussions about ending the practice began on August 29, 2022.

One official set out this position in a group email, advocating that “from this point on, we don’t accommodate pets – certainly not if purchased here”.

“We’ve significant constraints – notwithstanding what other countries do… we make our own calls,” he added.

However, there was pushback over the proposed policy change, with a principal officer in the department arguing that “pets are extremely important to children – often the first or second most important thing in their lives when asked”.

She pointed to a recent study, which had found that 50 per cent of children had pets and saw pets as part of their family. “Some also included their pets name when asked to list their family,” she added.

The official highlighted that there were “multiple benefits” to having a companion animal and claimed that some children even use their pets “to talk about their life”.

READ MORE: Watch Tánaiste defend €1m a month spend on Ukraine pets as Irish Mirror investigation raised in Dáil

Another official foresaw difficulties with informing Ukrainian refugees that their pets would not be accommodated at the state’s expense.

“Who has that conversation with the ‘Person with the Pet’... I don’t think I could ask my team to have those on-site discussions,” she wrote.

In response to this concern, a department official suggested that those awkward conversations could be avoided if refugees were sent letters about the changes instead. “Do we write to them then?” she asked.

Another argument against ending the accommodation payments for Ukrainian pets was outlined by a principal officer, who claimed that “unilaterally” stopping the payments was “a potential breach of contract”.

The resistance appears to have been overruled by Minister Roderic O’Gorman, however, who wanted the officials to come up with “a new policy on pets in our accommodation”, according to an email from a top civil servant.

“Minister is clear – from date XX we will no longer accommodate people arriving into Ireland with their pets in our accommodation,” they wrote on September 16.

“If they still come with pets, we will give them the choice of divesting themselves of the pets… or they find their own accommodation.”

A spokeswoman for the department told the Irish Mirror this week that the Government had communicated that it would no longer be providing accommodation for newly arrived or newly acquired pets in state-funded accommodation from November 9, 2022.

“BOTPs [Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection] must make their own arrangements for pets, as the department no longer assists with accommodating pets,” she added.

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