Refugees in Ireland: Grateful for sanctuary and in search of a normal life

Syrian refugees want neither handouts nor pity but the chance to give back to their new home, says Joyce Fegan

Ireland’s newest family, the Al Hariris, fled Syria to a hostile Turkey in 2015, before making the “last-resort” decision in March 2016, to take a 7m inflatable raft carrying 47 passengers, across the Mediterranean.

They ended up living in tents in a Greek refugee camp for approximately nine months and, on December 16, arrived in Mosney, Co Meath, with the hope of reclaiming their lives and starting over.