'We’ve never seen a response on this scale,' says head of Irish Red Cross

A woman covers herself with a blanket near a damaged fire truck after shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday. The people arriving will have been traumatised so it was important that pledgers be aware of that, Liam O’Dwyer said.

The secretary-general of the Irish Red Cross, Liam O’Dwyer, has urged the public who have pledged to host refugees from Ukraine to be patient as offers of accommodation are processed.

On Friday morning, the number of pledges was at 13,400, but that could be much higher, he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show. There were more pledges in the system that had not yet been accessed.