Ukrainian refugees who have been told to vacate student accommodation across the country in the coming days say they are facing “great uncertainty” about where they will be housed as the State continues to grapple with a shortage of emergency beds.
With third-level students set to return to college, Minister for Equality and Integration Roderic O’Gorman said that around 1,500 Ukrainians would have to be moved out of student accommodation over the weekend.
One of those due to be moved is Viktoriia Olomutska, who fled to Ireland from Ukraine with her 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter at the end of May.
Originally from Kyiv, the family first stayed in the Citywest reception facility before being moved to the University College Dublin (UCD) campus, where Ms Olomutska said they had lived in “very good conditions”. They were moved out of UCD on August 15th and into student accommodation in Maynooth University.
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“When settling in, everyone is informed that this is temporary housing until September 4th. Then everyone will be resettled, but it is not known where,” she told The Irish Times.
Ms Olomutska said living in Maynooth has been “very good”, with Ukrainians having access to good transport links and nearby shops and services.
“It will be sad to leave this campus as well,” she said. “It worries me that they can move us to tents, a gym, another distribution center. I really hope that they will help us find an Irish family.”
The several thousand Ukrainians who had been living in student housing were now facing “great uncertainty” about where they would be accommodated, she said.
“September 1st is coming. Children must go to school. But we do not know where we will be, where we will be relocated,” she said.
Ms Olomutska said she had wanted to place her two children in schools in Maynooth, but was advised not to do so as the family would soon be moved elsewhere.
Mr O’Gorman said on Thursday that it was likely many of those moved out of student lodgings would be accommodated in community halls.
“Across the summer we had 5,000 Ukrainian displaced persons accommodated in student accommodation, we have been moving people out of that accommodation over the last number of weeks, so right now there’s about 3,500 in student accommodation,” he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.
“This weekend is significant with about 1,500 we need to move out in the context of this weekend. Our focus is on moving people into pledged accommodation.”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February, more than 45,000 refugees have arrived in Ireland, with the State accommodating around 35,000 of that number, he said.
Mr O’Gorman said around 10 per cent of those were currently living in pledged accommodation, such as vacant homes or spare rooms offered by the public. The Minister said it was expected that August would present a pinch point in efforts to house Ukrainians.
“We’ve always been clear we will do our best to accommodate people, but we’d also have open lines of communication with the Ukrainian embassy and they would have an understanding of the pressures that we’re under.”
