‘I have no place to live or work in Ukraine’: Refugees sleeping on floor of Dublin Airport

A group of Ukrainian refugees will sleep on the floor of Dublin Airport for a fifth night because there is no accommodation in Ireland for them.

About 20 refugees who arrived into Ireland late last week were told that the Citywest facility, which has been providing temporary accommodation for Ukrainian refugees, is not available.

The refugees are all men and from different parts of Ukraine. They did not know each other until they arrived in Ireland last Thursday and Friday.

Dima, who did not want to give his surname for fear of reprisals against his family in Mariupol, a city under Russian occupation, said none of them were told that there was a shortage of accommodation in Ireland before they arrived.

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Dima explained that he was unable to escape before now because of the Russian occupation and is exempted from serving in the Ukrainian military because of a leg injury. He added that he came to Ireland to learn English and because he heard that Irish people were welcoming of refugees. He arrived on Friday night. Others in the group arrived on Thursday night.

The refugees were lying on sleeping bags spread out between seats in the upstairs area of Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport. They either arrived on the night of October 20th or 21st from other airports in Europe. Dima said about 10 have now left the airport, but they don’t know where they have gone.

Dima worked at the Azovstal steel works which was besieged and then occupied by the Russian invaders in April. He is prepared to be patient. Even without accommodation, it is better, he believes, to be in Ireland than in Mariupol which has seen some of the worst of the fighting. “I have no place to live or work in Ukraine any more. It has been destroyed.”

Sergey Chudaev, a television documentary maker who is acting as a team leader on behalf of the refugees at the airport, said they did not understand the situation before coming to Ireland as nobody told them that Ireland was running out of accommodation. “They now understand there are a lot of Syrian and Georgian refugees here too,” he said.

A delegation from the refugees went to the Ukrainian embassy in Dublin, but were told the embassy was unable to help them.

Capuchin Day Centre manager Alan Bailey said they had been contacted last Thursday and were asked if they were able to help Ukrainian refugees who were arriving in Ireland. He said they gave hot meals on Friday to six people and to 20 on Saturday. The centre is not open on Sundays. On Monday no more refugees arrived in the centre looking for food.

“They were a little bit disappointed that that is their first introduction and they had no place to go, but they were quite happy to know that they can use our services,” he stated.

The centre caters to between 100 and 150 people for breakfast and between 500 and 1,000 people every day for lunch. They can also avail of the centre’s doctor, chiropodist, dentist, optician and a diabetes expert.

Mr Bailey stressed that the centre is big enough to cope with Ukrainian refugees and has been helping out since the war started in February.