Ireland is at the limit of support that it can offer migrants, Leo Varadkar, the country’s prime minister, has warned, as Dublin considers tougher rules for refugees, including Ukrainians.

Almost 100,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland, a country of five million people in the midst of a wider housing crisis, since Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February 2022.

Mr Varadkar said that the Irish government did not know if it would be able to offer housing for another 30,000 to 50,000 refugees if, as expected, that number arrived next year.

“Based on current numbers, it wouldn’t be far off that and we just don’t know if we’re able to provide that level of accommodation,” he told the Irish parliament on Wednesday.

Mr Varadkar attempted to downplay reports of cabinet divisions over plans to limit the length of time that Ukrainian refugees can stay in state housing to three months before they must find their own accommodation.

Some 73,000 Ukrainians are living in state-provided housing in Ireland and more than 15,000 of them are employed.

New arrivals have sometimes been housed in tents and sports halls in a country that has taken in 1.6 per cent of Ukraine’s refugees in Europe.

Ireland’s finance ministry estimates that housing and benefit costs for Ukrainians will rise to £2.2 billion next year.