Ukrainian woman pleads for delay in relocation from Cork hotel until after daughter's Junior Cert

Also, 10-year-old Vova Tereshchenko is now attending his third school since he moved to Ireland, and living in his fifth hotel

Olga Serdiuk: 'My mother died in the war and I came here to save my life.' Picture: Chani Anderson

A Ukrainian woman who fled to Ireland with her daughter and father after her mother was killed during the Russian invasion is hoping a decision to relocate them from a Cork hotel can be delayed until after her daughter sits her Junior Certificate.

Olga Serdiuk has been living in the Grand Hotel in Fermoy with her daughter Anna and father Mykola since July 2022. Their home in Kherson in southern Ukraine has been destroyed in the war. 

On Thursday, they and the other 14 residents of the hotel were notified that they are to be transferred from the hotel to another unspecified location on May 10 – less than a month before Anna’s Junior Certificate exams begin on June 5.

Olga said Anna has been a student of Loretto secondary school in the town since September 2022, and added: “If we are taken away from this hotel on May 10, she will lose a year of her studies.” 

She said efforts to secure private rented accommodation in the area have failed, to date.

And she said: 

My mother died in the war and I came here to save my life. 

She now works in Cork City and is also studying, with a view to rebuilding her life here.

She praised the Irish authorities for “accepting and supporting us at a very difficult moment and for supporting us now". The families in the hotel were notified in February that a contract was put in place up to August, but this has now changed with the notification received last Thursday.

Olga’s father has been diagnosed with cognitive impairment and she is concerned about the impact of a move on his health.

She said: “We don’t even know where we will be taken. It is a mystery for us and we are stressed and shocked. I would ask to stay for a few more months to finish the school year.” 

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Vova Tereshchenko moved to the hotel last October from Cork City with his mother and grandmother. He said he is now attending his third school since he moved to Ireland, and living in his fifth hotel.

He does not want to move again, saying: “Some of my friends are in Cork and some of my friends are here (Fermoy). I just want to stay with my friends. It is hard to find friends and all my friends are here now.” 

Olga Serdiuk sits with Vova Tereshchenko (right, aged 10) and Mikita Opaiets (left, aged 3) on the landing of the Grand Hotel. Olga has been helping other children in the hotel with their schoolwork. Picture: Chani Anderson

He added that he is happy in Bishop Murphy primary school in the town, and has taken up karate and soccer.

Raisa Hutsanova is concerned about being moved so quickly because plans were being made for the return of her daughter Tetianna, who is currently in hospital after major heart surgery.

Another mother, Olga Zolochevska, is concerned about her 10-year-old son Arkhyp, as an assessment of need has been recommended for him to establish what supports he needs for his education.

The Department of Integration said it was notified of safety concerns with regard to the Grand Hotel in Fermoy, and as a result a decision has been taken to relocate the people accommodated there at present. 

"The Department will provide follow on state contracted accommodation to those who need it. Every effort is made to keep people as close to their existing accommodation where suitable vacancies are available in the area," it said.