Chickenpox outbreak means Ukrainians are unable to leave Cork student accommodation 

Some of the up to 300 Ukrainian refugees, who were temporarily staying in student accommodation on the Carrigrohane Road in Cork, and now must move to make room for students.  Picture: David Creedon

A chicken pox outbreak has prevented seven Ukrainian families from leaving a student accommodation complex in Cork, which they were due to depart at the weekend.

A Government contract with the student village came to end at the weekend, with hundreds of Ukrainian refugees leaving on Saturday and Sunday to make way for the return of students for the coming year. 

However, an outbreak of chicken pox means seven families must remain at the facility for two weeks to quarantine.

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

The Irish Red Cross has admitted it does not know where these refugees will be re-housed. Secretary-general Liam O'Dwyer told RTÉ 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 said the refugees may be moved to hotels, institutional accommodation identified by the Government, sports halls, or to the Gormanston military camp in Meath, adding "we haven’t been told".

Mr O'Dwyer said another issue of great concern for the refugees was being able to remain in an area where their children are registered to go to school.

It is understood just a handful of families in the student village in Cork were moved to houses pledged by Irish families at the weekend, with the majority heading to emergency accommodation.

The families were bussed primarily to emergency accommodation in Clonmel, Galway, and Gormanston. 

It is expected many will move to hotels or will be housed with Irish families where available, but some have been told they will have to remain in their temporary accommodation until February.

Delays in system

One pledge was fast-tracked in recent days to facilitate to a family whose relative was receiving medical care in the Cork area. However, continued delays in the matching system, coupled with an extremely high workload for organisations such as International Organization for Migration and International Protection Accommodation Service, means a delay in sourcing suitable accommodation.

Migrant and refugee support organisation Doras said the Government needed to appoint a "national lead" to deal with the problem of providing secure accommodation.

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, said Doras chief executive John Lannon.

The influx of Ukrainians fleeing war has created “challenges along with existing migration patterns and asylum-seeking patters for our accommodation”,  Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Monday.

We have been generous as a country and we will continue to be but it does create challenges.

”The objective is obviously through the reconfiguration of buildings that have been identified to create extra accommodation capacity, and the Department of Children are working on that basis to secure additional accommodation.

“Close to 48,000 Ukrainians have come into the country, and we are potentially looking up to 15,000 other migrants fleeing difficult situations and seeking asylum here, and then you add on thousands who are availing of work permits, and the population is growing, the challenge is obvious. 

"But nonetheless, we have to do everything we possibly can to continue what I think is the correct humanitarian response to the terrible war imposed on the Ukrainian people.”  

Embassy reopens 

Meanwhile, the Government has announced that the Irish Embassy in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has officially re-opened.

The embassy announced its closure on February 24, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Thereafter, embassy staff began working remotely from Dublin, before moving to the Polish capital of Warsaw.

In the aftermath of the Russian advance, dozens of countries shut their embassies and pulled their diplomatic staff out of Ukraine.

However, since mid-May — when the United States officially reopened its embassy in Kyiv — several countries have begun sending their staff back to the Ukrainian capital.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said on Monday the team’s key priority would "be renewing and building their network of contacts with Ukrainian government officials, to better inform Ireland’s provision of support and assistance to the government and people of Ukraine.”