Driving to another home for Christmas: Ukrainian refugees meet new host families

In less than a calendar year since the war in Ukraine began in February, the State has accommodated 65,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Though there have been well-documented difficulties in accommodating so many people, they are still coming and Irish people are generously agreeing to house them.

Thirty refugees arrived into a snowy Citywest Convention Centre for processing on Saturday, most of them women and children and all of them from the frontline of the Russian invasion of their country.

There to meet them was 11 members of the Tesla Owners Group (TOG) who agreed to drive the families to their hosts. They have been working since the start of the war both in Ireland and in Poland to drive Ukrainian refugees to their Irish hosts.

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Among them were Johnny Fearon who brought Anastasiia Platonova and her children Mylana (6) and Zalta (4) on the 600 kilometre round trip to Falcarragh in Co Donegal on Saturday evening.

The mother and her two children from Odesa are staying in one of three holiday homes owned by three sisters from Belfast who have given them up to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.

“They were all very impressed. The next door neighbours came out to greet us. They had done the house up with fairy lights and left chocolates and treats for the children,” Mr Fearon said.

“One of the children was glum and non-communicative, but when she arrived she was smiling and giggling.”

[ Daughter’s death is the unbearable heartache a Ukrainian family has carried to Ireland ]

Olena Cherniavska and her daughter Maria (9) have come from the Sumy oblast in northwest Ukraine which was one of the first to be occupied by the Russians and also one of the first to be liberated by Ukrainian troops.

Ms Cherniavska said they spent much of the early months of the war hiding in a bunker with her husband and her mother and father as their village was continually shelled.

Sixty-five Russian tanks arrived into their village of Tokari and the soldiers there took everything they could from the locals.

She said witnessed Russian troops taking life-saving medicines from villagers and trampling on them with their boots.

“We tried to make a decision to find a country that will have us. Volunteers in Ukraine told us Ireland was the best country for us,” she said.

They were brought to Mullaghmore in Co Sligo by Tesla driver Jim O’Leary, who travelled in snowy conditions for seven hours.

Helping Irish Hosts co-founder Jill Robinson said all the hosts have been “unbelievable and had everything ready for the refugees”.

“There are still hosts available. There are still communities and hosts opening their doors and they are aware of the successful hosting experiences others are having,” Ms Robinson said.

Effective Aid Ukraine director Tom McEnaney, who has been co-ordinating the Tesla drivers and their hosts, dismissed the notion that Ireland is unable to take more refugees. He said local authorities have not moved fast enough to dealing with the pledged accommodation offered by Irish hosts.

“These are the most needy refugees all from the frontline in Ukraine. At the moment we have at least 2,000 different units of pledged accommodation that are unassigned,” he said.