'Nothing will stop us from seeing our son': Kerry couple to travel to Ukraine to meet their baby

Dermot and Dorothy Moynihan will be travelling to Ukraine to meet baby Luke who was born on Tuesday morning, five days early, in the city of Lviv.

A couple from Co Kerry are travelling to Ukraine on Wednesday to meet their first child and will do everything they can to make sure they can finally hold their baby boy.

Dermot and Dorothy Moynihan will be travelling to Ukraine to meet baby Luke who was born on Tuesday morning, five days early, in the city of Lviv.

Despite concerns about security issues, the couple will travel to Ukraine through Poland and they hope to be holding their baby on Thursday morning.

Speaking to RTÉ radio’s News at One, Dermot Moynihan said despite ongoing issues, their main concern is the health of baby Luke.

“We waited so long and it's such a long journey with the help of so many people, so we were thrilled this morning that he was born and we were so delighted and yes, we’re definitely travelling.”

They will be travelling through Krakow in order to get to baby Luke by Thursday morning.

“Hopefully we’ll get to hold him then shortly after," Mr Moynihan said.

Mr Moynihan said while they respected the advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs urging Irish people not to travel to Ukraine while there remains a threat of conflict, “that isn’t an option for us. This is our first child.” 

"We’re going to do everything possible to be there," he said.

Mr Moynihan said they were lucky that the city of Lviv where their son was born is on the western side of Ukraine, close to the Polish border so that even if flights from Krackow are cancelled, they can travel on by train.

So far, the pair have only seen images of their “beautiful” baby.

We’re so excited. We can’t wait to be there and all of us together be a family and hold our boy and worry about everything else after that.

The new parents are hoping the paperwork can be completed quickly. Mr Moynihan thanked their legal representatives and the Department of Foreign Affairs, who were working hard to turn around the required paperwork which includes birth certs and DNA tests.