Ukrainian in Ireland: 'Every time, you’re back sitting on your luggage again'

Maya Tsuprenko, a ballerina and dance teacher, from Ukraine has had to change accommodation a number of times and is now looking for a place in Dublin where she is due to take up a job in September. PIcture: Conor Ó Mearáin / Collins Photos

More than a year after ballerina Maya Tsuprenko got trapped in Ireland when bombs started dropping on her hometown in Ukraine — just hours after she came here for a sold-out ballet tour — she faces having nowhere to go again.

Maya spent months in a hotel in Ireland following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, unable to return home, watching the carnage unfold on a TV screen.

She then gratefully moved to student accommodation at Dublin City University where she could cook her own food again and was later joined by her mother and grandmother.

When students had to return, she was moved to Gormanstown camp before the Red Cross found a host family for her in Dublin.

“The contract finishes at the end of June so I have no idea what will happen then," she said.

“Every time, you’re back sitting on your luggage again.

“From September, I have a job contract in a school in Dublin so I hope to find somewhere in Dublin.

“Ukrainians who speak English can find jobs in Ireland. The one thing that makes people sad here, especially in Dublin, is that there is no accommodation.

“People have a job but nowhere to live.” 

Maya has been studying to update her digital marketing qualifications for the Irish market.

She has been teaching dance to young Ukrainian refugees voluntarily and plans to get temporary work at a bar or restaurant over the summer before her dance teaching job starts in September.

Maya Tsuprenko with two of her students. Picture: Conor Ó Mearáin / Collins Photos

Her mother has now gone to Canada where Maya’s brother lives and her grandmother has gone to live with her sister in Moscow.

“Her sister’s there and she missed her too much. I speak with her on the phone sometimes but I can’t say a word about Russia and the war. I feel they’re not free to talk.

“But as long as they’re not under bombs it’s alright.

“My dad is still in my city [Kharkiv]. He had the choice to get out at the beginning but he said no.

“He’s changed so much since the war. He’s not the same person. His head is different now. He’s anxious.

“I went to visit him in February. His district is in ruins. That’s when I realised I might now stay in Ireland.

“But I’m happy because my family has all made their own choices, they all had that opportunity. Many people in Ukraine did not have a choice. A lot of kids, people in their 20s, will be left without legs and arms after the war. So I can’t be sad about my situation.” 

Meanwhile, Jean Eustace, who was born in Russia but has lived in Ireland since she was 15, has been helping Ukrainian refugees in her hometown Killarney.

She helps with translation and was involved in the successful campaign to prevent Ukrainian families from being moved from a hotel in the Kerry town to Mayo last year.

“We managed to have them rehoused, in other hotels and holiday homes. But if the same thing happened now we would not be so successful because everywhere is full. There are no more places to house people.” 

She said that some families have already returned to the less war-ravaged parts of Ukraine, where they have to battle regular electricity blackouts and insecure water supply but where they have somewhere to live.

“The insecurity of not knowing where they will live is very hard on people," she said.

“A lot of people are anxious about accommodation now. Many accommodation providers have not told them if they will extend their contracts.

“That fear of being moved always looms over them.

“They’ve settled into the community, their children are in school, many of the women are in jobs, they’ve found ways to provide traditional food for their children.

“They know that if the hotel says they need to get out, they’ll have to go, and there’s not enough additional accommodation in Killarney to accommodate them. They know about the housing crisis in Ireland.

“The areas from Odesa up to Kyiv are relatively safe so some people have gone back there. There are still problems with no electricity and water supply, but they’ll take no electricity over being suspended in the air over here.

“One friend from Odesa is thinking about moving back with his family. He’s an engineer, he had successful businesses in Ukraine, but because he’s learning English the only jobs he can get are physical jobs and because of his health, he cannot do that. 

"He’s hoping that with better English he can get an office job related to engineering but if he can’t, he said he’ll have to go back because he wants to support his family and he can’t stand not working anymore."