Locals push back as 120 Ukrainians told to leave accommodation in County Cork
LOCALS IN Millstreet, Co Cork have spoken out after a group of 121 Ukrainian temporary protection beneficiaries were told to leave their Government contracted accommodation last week.
Siobahn Buckley, the Principal of the local Presentation Primary School said that Ukrainians in the community have been told to leave their accommodation in the Green Glens Arena accommodation in Millstreet by 29 August.
'Some of these families families have been with us since the war broke out in 2022, at the height of the war there were 400 people living in Green Glens, now there's 121, but those people were told out of nowhere yesterday that by the end of the summer they need to have found alternative accommodation,' she told
The Opinion Line with PJ Coogan
today.
Buckley said that her school has pupils who live in the accommodation centre and that the news has been 'devastating' to the community there.
'They've been through so much already, and while I know Green Glens was never going to be very permanent, but it's worked for these people, and I think the fact that they've stayed there means one of two things, that their homes in Ukraine are not fit to return to, or else they are actually happy here, it's probably a combination of the two,' she said.
The Department of Justice set out on 13 May that it will be closing Ukrainian accommodation centres around the country, with some people being asked to move to other places.
They said that they are doing this because of reduced need, providers choosing to end their contracts, and because of compliance concerns with some centres.
Valeria Marchenko lives in the centre with her husband and his father.
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'I feel like I am losing my home for the second time,' she told the radio station.
Valeria added that around 65 people in the centre work locally, and now do not know if they will be able to keep up their jobs. She further said that three people living there are currently recovering from surgeries.
Another woman in the centre, Olena, said 'I was talking to older people here around, they are in shock, they don't know what to do, those who are elderly, those who have children and pets, it is not possible for them to find accommodation,' she said today.
Fiona Corcoran of the Greater Chernobyl Cause said that the residents are seeking housing in the local area but they are finding it extremely difficult.
'I was talking to people here who first saw children arriving three years ago, taking their first steps into Irish school, and they've watched them grow. They've endured so much trauma and now they are being uprooted again,' she said.
She added that the family who own the accommodation are happy for the Ukrainians to remain and that their having to leave is purely because of a 'Government directive'.
Corcoran said that residents don't yet know where they will be moved to but that they have been told that they likely will not be able to bring their pets with them.
The Journal
has asked the Department of Justice for comment.
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