Irish Red Cross does not know where Ukrainians will go after leaving student housing

Tents at the Gormanston military camp in Co Meath, which is to be used to house up to 350 Ukrainian refugees. Picture: Department of the Taoiseach /PA Wire

The Irish Red Cross has admitted that it does not know where Ukrainian refugees who have to leave student accommodation in the next 10 days will be re-housed. 

Around 2,500 Ukrainian refugees who have been housed in student accommodation around the country will be relocated by the end of this month. Up to 2,000 more are likely to be moved by mid-September

Speaking this morning, Irish Red Cross secretary-general, Liam O'Dwyer, said it had long been known that student accommodation would have to be vacated in the autumn ahead of the start of the academic year.

Mr O’Dwyer surmised that the refugees may be moved to hotels, institutional accommodation identified by the Government, sports halls or to the Gormanstown military camp in Meath.

We haven’t been told.

Mr O'Dwyer said another issue of great concern to the refugees was that they be able to remain in an area where their children are registered to go to school. "There are 7,500 refugee children due to go to school in Ireland in the coming weeks," he told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.

When asked how long refugees were staying in Gormanstown, Mr O’Dwyer said there was no information other than that such stays were short term. The intention was that people would not stay any longer than a week before they would be moved to Citywest or to other accommodation.

The Citywest Hotel in Dublin

Mr O'Dwyer said the Red Cross continues to follow up, engage with, and get as many refugees as possible into accommodation that was pledged.

To date, between 3,600 to 3,700 had moved into pledged accommodation, he said.  

The process was not straightforward as it was necessary to ensure that shared accommodation worked for both parties,

'They deserve better' - Migrant support charity calls for appointment of 'national lead' to help accommodate Ukrainian refugees

The Government needs to appoint a "national lead" to deal with the ongoing issue of providing secure accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.

Migrant and refugee support organisation Doras says images of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine having to sleep on floors and tents could signal "a disturbing new norm" if the issue is not immediately addressed. Doras CEO John Lannon says the Ukrainians who have arrived here "deserve better."

“We’re talking about people who are fleeing for their lives, people who have lived through the horrors of war and are seeking a safe place of rest and sanctuary," he said.

“Of course, we have a national accommodation crisis, and have had for years now, but we’re still a wealthy country and we must provide a basic standard of care and accommodation that doesn’t see people sleeping in hugely inadequate conditions.

"The risk here is that tents become a new norm and we can’t allow that especially as we enter the final weeks of summer and face the prospect of a long and cold winter ahead.” 

Mr Lannon said it was "simply not good enough to say we didn’t see this coming."

Doras CEO, John Lannon.

He also called for better coordination and resourcing from Government to ensure those working with refugees and asylum seekers could "better respond to the huge levels of distress and suffering we are witnessing every day."

"We need an all-out response, as we had with Covid, which should include the appointment of a national refugee response lead.

"We also need to see a plan from government that articulates an approach to the reception and accommodation of refugees that does not rely on tents or other substandard accommodation."

Emma Lane-Spollen, the national coordinator with the Ukraine Civil Society Forum, criticised the continual relocation of Ukrainians living here.

"This constant relocating, the not-knowing, school starts next week, is re-traumatising," she told RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday.

Ms Lane-Spollen said the uncertainty facing these people is “appalling."

Though she praised the work of the Department of Children in finding emergency accommodation, Ms Lane-Spollen accused the Government of a lack of forward planning and of an “over-reliance on hotel accommodation”.