Three Kosovan women who returned home last summer after 15 months in Ireland have asked the Government to allow them come back.
In a letter to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, the three Kosovars said their hopes for a new life in their native country had not materialised.
They have no house, and are crammed with 11 others into two rooms in the home of a cousin outside the town of Gnjilane, some 20 miles southeast of the capital, Pristina.
"Most of the time there is no electricity, no jobs. No water. We are not allowed to go walking or shopping in town after seven o'clock in the evening because if someone kills you or steals you there is no one going to care about you," say Fahrije, Ganimete, and Kimete Hyseni.
In their letter the three, who are aged 21 to 25, say they would be willing to repay the £5,000 repatriation grant each received from the Government.
All but 137 of the 857 Kosovan refugees in the State last July accepted the repatriation scheme.
They end: "Don't forget us, please, please, please, Liz O'Donnell."
Ms O'Donnell has not yet seen the letter, and does not want to comment on an individual case. But allowing Kosovars who accepted the repatriation grants to come back would "unravel the whole programme", she points out.
The letter does not surprise those who have worked with the Kosovars. According to one, many of the refugees who accepted the Government's generous, but legally binding, repatriation scheme desperately want to return.
"The situation in Kosovo is so dire, even the UN told them not to go back. They have no jobs. The money is gone. The Irish Government should show some compassion in extreme cases," said Ms Valerie Hughes, spokesperson for Kosova-Ireland Solidarity.