Red Cross 'astonished' by 12,000 accommodation offers for Ireland-bound Ukrainian refugees

A child amid the refugees fleeing the Ukraine war to arrive at the Medyka border crossing in Poland. More than 2,500 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since the Russian invasion of their country began just two weeks ago. Photo: Daniel Cole/AP/Shutterstock (12843204h) Poland - 10 Mar 2022

The Irish Red Cross has said it is “blown away” by the generosity of the public after close to 12,000 offers of accommodation to Ukrainian refugees were made to the charity.

Some 11,902 applications via the Red Cross’s register of pledges – offers of both shared and vacant accommodation - had been made as of Thursday morning, just six days since the project began. That is nearly double the 6,100 offers recorded on Tuesday night.