Irish politicians to visit Ukrainian refugees in Romania and Moldova
Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs vice-chair Brendan Howlin: 'I think it will be a quite harrowing trip.' Picture: Damien Storan
A cross-party group of politicians will travel to visit refugees on the Ukrainian border next week as part of a fact-finding mission.
A delegation from the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs will visit Romania and Moldova, two countries that have taken in tens of thousands of people fleeing from Ukraine.
The group, led by committee chair Joe McHugh, will engage in high-level meetings with political representatives and hope to visit refugee camps along the border.
It is expected that a second trip to Georgia will take place at a later date.
"Over time, we are going to be dealing with a considerable number of refugees," said Fine Gael TD Mr McHugh.
Vice-chair Brendan Howlin and Sinn Féin TD John Brady will also travel on what is expected to be a five-day itinerary.
"We have been taking lots of evidence from what you might call frontline states, the ambassadors of Moldova and Slovakia, we had Poland, Georgia, and others in over the last number of weeks," said Mr Howlin.
"I think it will be a quite harrowing trip."
Mr Howlin highlighted the fact that more and more Ukrainian people will be arriving via ferry into Rosslare in the coming weeks and called on the Government to carry out the necessary checks and paperwork onboard before refugees arrive.
"If they actually put a cross-departmental team on the vessel, you could have all the registration work, Covid testing, and all that sort of stuff done before the vessel arrives because it's an 18-hour crossing," he said.
The Labour TD said the trip would also include discussion on how Moldova might progress its EU membership bids.
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