Luke O'Neill in Bratislava: 'People just wandering the streets ... it's mayhem'

Prof O’Neill travelled with Fergal Murphy and Dr Brian McManus to deliver aid to a centre set up by charity Depaul in the Slovakian city

Fergal Murphy, Prof Luke O'Neill, and Dr Brian McManus driving back towards Ireland from the Slovakian city of Bratislava.

Speaking at a rest stop in Frankfurt on his way back from helping to deliver essential supplies to the people of Ukraine, the word that Professor Luke O’Neill used to describe his experience was "surreal”.

“I wouldn’t have seen this kind of thing before,” Professor O'Neill said. “The main places we were in were Bratislava and Krakow. 

"In Krakow, you can see so many of them just wandering the streets and Ukrainian regs on the cars. The numbers are staggering. Ten million of them displaced, and four million have come out of the country so far.” 

Prof O’Neill was travelling back with Fergal Murphy and Dr Brian McManus having helped to deliver aid to a massive aid centre set up by charity Depaul in the Slovakian city of Bratislava.

“The stuff we delivered will go straight to Ukraine and go exactly where it’s needed,” he said. “Depaul has been operating in Ukraine for years so they’re well placed to deliver this. 

"I met two guys who are shipping these across every few days.” 

They say it’s mayhem. The word the guy used was chaos. 

While Depaul is active in Ireland supporting those at risk of homelessness, it has also been active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odessa for many years. 

Since the Russian invasion, it has aimed to mobilise its international operations and leverage its local knowledge and contacts to get support to those who need it.

The Depaul charity distributing food in Odessa.

While most of its staff have relocated to western parts of the country, they still have people on the ground in areas such as Kharkiv.

Depaul Ireland chief executive David Carroll said that this aid is going to shelters set up for those without a home, and for those with complex needs. 

He said that previous service users with Depaul in Ukraine, who were homeless prior to the war, have been volunteering on the ground to pitch in.

“They are now helping their fellow citizens to stay alive and delivering essential aid on the ground,” Mr Caroll said. 

It shows the magnitude of what’s happening. And the humanity that’s being shown. 

Professor O’Neill has been an ambassador for Depaul for some time and decided he’d go out with an aid convoy to do what he could to help out during the crisis.

“We brought medical supplies,” he said. “There was a kind of shopping list sent to Ukrainian doctors here." 

Medical supplies from St John Ambulance aid arriving at Kharkiv hospital.

"Bandages, dressings, trauma stuff, it’s stuff they’ve run out of over there. Even stuff like blankets.” 

He said the money being raised in Ireland was being used to buy items that were needed on the ground by Depaul before bringing them over to Ukraine.

In the Bratislava depot, he saw a sticker put on boxes of hygiene supplies to show that the money to get these supplies came from a school in Castleknock.

A meeting with the Irish ambassador in Bratislava drove the scale of what’s happening home for Professor O’Neill.

“He told me something depressing,” he said. “This could go on for two years. There’s been such chaos. 

"They reckon maybe there is €40bn worth of damage done. They have to rebuild that country. And so many have left it just carrying a few suitcases. 

"There’s a lot of work to be done. It doesn’t stop here.”