Ukrainian refugees warned they may end up sleeping on floors in Ireland

Ukrainian student Anna Poterlevych (22) is due to arrive in Ireland on November 2nd, although she is now having second thoughts given the scarcity of accommodation. Ms Poterlevych bought her tickets a few months ago but is growing increasingly concerned by what she has been reading on Telegram, a social media app, where Ukrainians share information about issues with their new home countries.

“I had a hope that I’ll have accommodation and won’t have to pay for rent but now I’m not sure,” she said. Ukrainians are concerned that families with children are being prioritised, with single people like Ms Poterlevych forced to join a waiting list for accommodation.

On a Facebook group for Ukrainians moving to Ireland, those who are already here are advising newcomers to look elsewhere. “Think about your children, is it worthy to sleep on the floor?” one post advises.

Another suggests it’s “better to move to Germany, Estonia or Finland now”.

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“It’s too late to take temporary protection in Ireland,” prospective arrivals are warned. “They have no places for refugees but don’t speak of it,” another claims. One poster advises newcomers to “look for another country” as refugees were living in tents and “winter is coming”.

For some who have already spent money on expensive plane tickets, there is little choice now but to come to Ireland, even if it means sleeping in a tent or on the floor of the Citywest transit hub. Last weekend 43 single men were sent to a homeless hostel in the centre of Dublin due to the lack of space in Citywest.

Olexandra Belynska (32) is due to come to Ireland on Tuesday, October 25th with her son and mother. She is from Mariupol and left the city on March 20th after a bomb destroyed her house. She initially moved to Varna, a city in Bulgaria, where she was treated for a contusion suffered in the bombing.

“The problem was that Bulgaria doesn’t provide allowances and accommodation,” she said. “The average wages are enough just to pay for the rent.”

Ms Belynska decided to move to Ireland because her son’s godfather is already in the country. She found a host family willing to allow her and her family to remain for a year. She will help pay for utilities. “They also said they will help me to find a job in town so I’m very grateful for that,” she said.

One Ukrainian refugee who returned to Kyiv from Ireland said she would not seek asylum in Ireland again as she thinks the scarce accommodation should be kept for those fleeing cities totally annihilated by the war.

Yulia Klymenko said she doesn’t want to be a burden on “such a beautiful country” while her city is habitable, despite her nine-year-old son being given school workshops on how to handle explosives safely.

The 35-year-old and her son Severyn are now preparing for a harsh winter amid daily power outages of up to six hours and renewed attacks on the city by drones.

However, the young mother, who said she found the “most incredible people” who housed her near Dublin’s Merrion Square when she fled the war with her son last April, will not seeking further refuge in Ireland at present, instead believing limited accommodation should be found for those whose cities have been destroyed.

Ministers were due on Monday to consider potential measures to shore up Ireland’s under-pressure system for housing Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Arrivals over the weekend were left without accommodation after the Citywest transit hub closer to new arrivals, with some availing of homeless services and some returning to the airport to sleep.

Yulia and her son returned to the “relative safety” of Kyiv last August as she missed her family and husband Oleksandr.

Remarkably, on her return, her father showed Yulia a picture of himself in Ireland 40 years ago while working as a fisherman and said that he never thought that it would be the country to give his daughter and grandson refuge during a war.

“When we finally decided to leave our country, Ireland was a spontaneous decision,” she said. “I didn’t have any friends or relatives living in the EU and the refugees who fled like me were trying to settle in different countries. I had heard of it being a really friendly place from my father who had visited briefly before I was born when he worked on board a Soviet fishing vessel which docked in Ireland in the 80s.

“We arrived in early April, a little nervous and without any plans but we were blessed to meet the most brilliant Irish people who hosted us and supported us all the way.

“We had never met them before we arrived but they took care of us as if we were their family. They were and are so kind, caring and big-hearted.

“I can honestly say that Dublin became my second home. I’ve never had such a feeling in a foreign country before and I hope our friendships, forged by crazy circumstances, will last for long years.”

But as it became clear that the war would not quickly conclude, Yulia began to yearn for her family at home.

“When my son was playing in wonderful Dublin playgrounds, he always noticed that there were fathers with other children but not with him,” she said.

“We had to come back as soon as it was safe enough.”

Life in Kyiv requires close monitoring of strikes and constant contact with loved ones, Yulia said, but she is determined not to retreat.

“While there is no truly safe place in Ukraine, I believe some people must stay to pay taxes, support the economics and support the soldiers on the front line,” she said.

“My son’s school is now online and he recently attended a workshop on the safe handling of explosive objects and on first aid. Imagine a child having to do that?

“We are well aware that there is no safe place here. There are fewer hits in Kyiv than in Zaporizhzhya but people are still being killed here. What can we do? To retreat means to hand everyone over to genocide. Our only option is to resist further. Unfortunately freedom is not free.

“While Dublin is now my second home, Europe is already too over-crowded with refugees and especially Ireland with its housing crisis.

“I don’t want to be a burden on this beautiful country while Kyiv is still more or less liveable.

“I think it would be better to give people from occupied and devastated cities a chance to settle abroad first as they have literally nowhere to go back to.”

She harbours no resentment for the State despite its growing difficulties in providing shelter to those fleeing war.

“Hopefully one day, I will get back to Ireland as a normal tourist but until then, I wish its people happiness, prosperity and peace,” she said.