City welcomes Ukrainians
“Behind each of the numbers is a person, a child, a mother, a sister who have left loves behind and who are very traumatised.”
Those were the words of Ann Doherty, Chief Executive of Cork City Council, as she gave an overview to councillors on Monday evening about how Cork City Council is helping those who have fled Ukraine.
As a local authority, Cork City Council is participating in the national calls to assist in the humanitarian effort to provide help to those who have arrived into Ireland from Ukraine.
During a Cork City Council meeting, she said: “It’s estimated that there are now 23,000 Ukrainians in Ireland and there’s the prediction that there will be 500 per day coming into the country through the airports. The Community Response Forum has been convened to focus on this and has been meeting weekly since 16 March.”
Ms Doherty described the forum, which is led by the council, as “really important”. The forum involves several different types of agencies, both state and voluntary. At the request of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Cork City Council provided details of houses that might suitable for emergency accommodation.
Since 31 March, requests have been made for the city council to provide 225 beds for incoming Ukrainians. A number of premises were assessed for suitability, of which two were selected. Arrangements were made and they were readied. She said on 2 April, 73 Ukrainians arrived and were provided with accommodation and a further group of 68 were assigned to the second property as of 9 April.
On Monday, she said work was also ongoing to welcome another 75 who were due to arrive yesterday, Wednesday. Food and clothes and other essential items have been provided and local schools have met with parents to provided places for children.
She said: “Given the scale of the number of refugees expected into Ireland in the immediate future, the council is going to face unprecedented challenges. The council is collaborating with all of the state agencies and with those in the private sector in order to put in place dedicated plans for this.”
“Each person that comes is allocated an PPSN, a medical card and access to social welfare and they obviously have a right to work here.”
Ms Doherty continued: “Behind each of the numbers is a person, a child, a mother, a sister who have left loves behind and who are very traumatised. We are seeing that more as the time goes on, just how traumatised people are who are coming. So the importance of confidentiality and privacy for the Ukrainian refugees who come here is of the upmost importance and we are very keen to support that. “We are all very hopeful about peace talks but do anticipate that will we see many, many more refugees coming over the coming weeks until there is a more stabilised situation in Ukraine.”