Capuchin homeless charity feeding and supporting Ukrainians left without accommodation

A volunteer Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin has told of how the homeless charity is providing meals and support services for Ukrainian refugees who have not yet found accommodation.

Alan Bailey told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show that a group of Ukrainian men and women aged between 18 and 40 had made their way to the centre over the weekend by public transport from Dublin Airport where they were sleeping.

The refugees were extremely grateful for the welcome they received in Ireland but were traumatised by the war in their homeland, he said.

“I think they left feeling better. We’re here to help,” he said.

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The Day Centre provides 250 breakfasts and 500 dinners every day. “They will be well fed. We will look after them,” he added.

Liam O’Dwyer of the Red Cross told the same programme that some local authorities were slower than others in placing refugees in homes that had been pledged. While he was reluctant “to point the finger”, the fact remained that there had been a slower response from some local authorities, while others had been “superb”.

To date 8,000 refugees have been placed in pledged accommodation, Mr O’Dwyer told the show, with a “tremendous” response from the Irish public, but some pledges were in remote areas where services were difficult to access, while others went silent after being contacted by the Red Cross.

Housing expert Dr Lorcan Sirr meanwhile said Government departments need to join together for a co-ordinated approach to providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees,

More than 40 refugees were left without accommodation over the weekend when the Citywest transit hub closed to new arrivals. Some were helped by homeless services in Dublin city and many returned to Dublin Airport, where they slept over the weekend.

A new facility for temporarily housing new arrivals is due to open at the airport on Monday evening.

It comes against a backdrop of a renewed influx of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and an increase in people from other countries seeking asylum.

Dr Sirr, a senior lecturer in housing, planning and development at the Technological University Dublin, told Newstalk Breakfast on Monday that “a lot of the heavy lifting” had been left with the Department of Children while the Department of Housing was “AWOL”.

Dr Sirr said there was an accommodation crisis even though there was not a shortage of accommodation in the country.

[ Ministers set for crunch talks over accommodation crisis affecting Ukrainian refugees ]

There were 66,000 holiday homes for which “no effort at all” had been made for use as temporary accommodation for Ukrainians, he said.

“There is a lot out there, but there seems to be a lack of coordination by Government departments.”

Ireland was taking in the same number of refugees as other countries, he said. “We’re not unique”.

Dr Sirr said that the Department of Housing needed to “step up” and stop “talking about plans”. Many of the people from Ukraine who had arrived in Ireland would be staying for some time.

Earlier, Ukrainian interpreter Lily Orlovska told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that refugees arriving at the weekend were surprised that there was no accommodation available for them. A number of refugees eventually returned to the airport after they failed to find accommodation in the city.

“I met them at the airport where they told me that they tried, they went to Citywest, there was no space. They were told to return to airport to stay there at least until Tuesday,” she said.

“They slept on the floor, they did not have any food or any money, nothing was given to them to support them to stay at the airport. Basically the only food they’ve had was the food given at the Capuchin Day Centre,” she said.

Ms Orlovska spoke of a young couple she met who did not fill in the documents to apply for a temporary protection order after being turned away from Citywest and having no accommodation.

“They are thinking of going back to Europe to Germany where they can be given accommodation,” she said.

Another woman she met had been refused temporary protection, she had hoped to find work in Ireland to support her family in Ukraine. She had sold items to buy the ticket to Ireland. “So basically they don’t have money for food. or the ticket back. It’s very sad”.