Cork's Community Response Forum to lead council's Ukrainian refugee management 

The newly-painted street art in Cork City to welcome Ukrainian refugees. The top phrase says 'Welcome to Cork' in Ukrainian.

A group which has been set up to spearhead Cork City Council’s community response to the Covid-19 pandemic will now lead its response to Ukrainian refugees coming to the city, according to council chief executive Ann Doherty.

She told a virtual meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee that the Cork City Community Response Forum has already met in recent days to discuss the city council’s response to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine, with a further plan to meet this week.

Initially, the group was set up to ensure that vulnerable members of the community or those living alone can access vital grocery, medicine and fuel deliveries and social care supports.

Ms Doherty said it is really important that accommodation is managed through the central International Protection Accommodation Services and Red Cross system.

However, she said: “We have commenced preparation at a local level to ensure the city is ready to support the Ukrainian people who come to us in this time of crisis.” 

She said the Community Response Forum can now take a lead role in the city in responding to the refugees and key partners from the business and NGO sectors have now become involved with the forum.

There are a lot of unknowns at the moment, Ms Doherty said but said that some Ukrainian people have already been put up in hotels in the city.

“It is hard to know how many people will be coming over the next couple of weeks. It is emerging at the moment but what is important is that we do a very co-ordinated response, that we ensure we use resources really, really well and avoid duplication.” 

Chief superintendent Tom Myers told the meeting that approximately 200 people have come in through Cork airport after fleeing Ukraine.

He said: “We are expecting a lot more than that. We are opening up channels of communication between our community policing and members of the Ukrainian community. There are some documentations to be filled out for immigration bureaus but most have got the 90-day visa and arrangements have been put in place for them to come back to update their visa after that.”

 He said there have been no incidents of unaccompanied children coming through the airport but that gardaí are watching that situation closely.