A group helping Ukrainian refugees has criticised a decision to give less than 24 hours’ notice to 60 Ukrainians on their relocation from a hotel at Dublin Airport to accommodation in Co Cork.
A total of 60 Ukrainian people staying at the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport were told on Thursday they were being moved to self-catering accommodation in Youghal in east Cork on Friday morning.
Play in Peace, a group set up to bring Ukrainian families and children out of their State-provided accommodation for activities and recreation in the community, said the group were "very upset and shocked" at being relocated to rural Ireland at such short notice having settled in Irish schools in the Dublin area.
"It is insensitive given what they have been through," said Eimear Power, the group's founder.
One Ukrainian mother expressed shock to her at the move given that her five-year-old had just started primary school in Dublin and two older children were attending a local secondary school.
Ms Power said the Government has “done a really good job” in sourcing accommodation for the refugees but that State officials needed to be more conscious of what the Ukrainian refugees had been through and required more notice when being relocated to another part of the country.
She said: “Nobody is arguing that the new location is more suitable for families with children but do they not at least deserve notice having set up their lives and started school here?”
The affected families have travelled from parts of Ukraine that have been attacked by Russia's military including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities in the eastern European country.
Regret
A spokesman for Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman, whose department is managing efforts to house refugees, said the department regretted the upset caused to the 60 Ukrainians.
He said this group of Ukrainian people were accommodated temporarily in a hotel “reserved for applicants for international protection who urgently need this accommodation”.
“The State is currently in an emergency response to the ongoing crisis and such moves are necessary to ensure that applicants for international protection and all those fleeing here from Ukraine can be accommodated,” the spokesman said.
The State is providing accommodation to 17,792 people from Ukraine out of 26,296 people who have travelled here from the war-torn country, according to the Department of Integration.
“In all circumstances where a move is required, and individuals or families have established links locally, we seek to accommodate them nearby,” said Mr O’Gorman’s spokesman.
“Due to the shortage of accommodation, this is not always possible.”
The number of people arriving into the State from Ukraine has increased since a lull over the Easter holiday period.
The department said 354 and 314 people arrived from Ukraine on Wednesday and Thursday respectively – roughly the same number that were arriving into the State on a daily basis prior to Easter.
Daily arrivals dropped to between 100 and 150 over the Easter period.
The current level is still significantly lower than at the highest point, which was in the week commencing March 21st, when 4,249, or an average of 607 Ukrainian people per day, were coming into the country.
The Oireachtas Housing Committee was told privately earlier this week that some form of temporary accommodation may be required for Ukrainians for between two and three years.
