Roderic O’Gorman, whose portfolio includes the direct provision system, told the Dáil today that the war “had an unavoidable impact on the implementation of the white paper, as staff in my Department were temporarily diverted to fulfil Ireland’s obligations”.

He said he had recently met with members of the external advisory group appointed to oversee the implementation of the white paper to discuss the new situation.

He confirmed that staff who were “temporarily diverted” to work relating to Ukrainian refugees have all now been reallocated back to the implementation of the white paper.

“However, and I am being as upfront as possible, the need to respond to Ukraine has created delays in recent months,” the minister said.

“We are doing a review of the project timelines now and we will initially bring forward a revised implementation plan to the programme board and will subsequently publish it later in the summer.”

Mr O’Gorman also suggested the government “will probably have to broaden the assumptions upon which the white paper is based because there is a greater flow of people migrating internationally seeking protection and that is part of the review process that I have asked my Department to undertake in terms of those timelines”.

The comments came as Bríd Smith, the People Before Profit TD for Dublin South-Central, challenged the minister on the timetable for abolishing the direct provision system and the number of direct provision centres which are run on a for-profit basis.

Ms Smith said: “Seven out of 37 direct provision centres are publicly run. The rest are making vast profits from State money. This is an absolute scandal and I do not believe it will be ended by just getting a commitment from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“There needs to be a much greater struggle to demand it happens at least on a human rights basis if not further, and to stop spreading the idea that the housing crisis is the fault of refugees.”