The Irish Government plans to relocate at least 1,000 Ukrainian refugees from hotels and temporary accommodation centers by February 2025. This move has sparked concerns among residents and community workers who worry about the impact on the integration process and the well-being of vulnerable Ukrainians.
At least 1,000 Ukrainian refugees face relocation in a push to reduce State accommodation contracts. Ukrainian Olya Maryntseva, a community worker with the North, East & West Kerry Development Programme, is frustrated at seeing nearly three years of State-funded integration work being undermined. At least 1,000 men, women and children living in hotels across Ireland have received notifications in recent weeks that they are to be relocated to new accommodation by February.
The Irish Government has issued hundreds of letters to Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) since the start of January, many of them families with children attending local schools, informing them they will be moved to alternative housing, sometimes in a different part of the country. Residents at more than 50 accommodation centres nationwide have received the transfer notifications as the Government pushes to reduce the number of contracts accommodating Ukrainian refugees and return housing to “private use, tourism or student use”. Around 100 Ukrainians living at the Golf Hotel in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, became the latest cohort last week to receive news that it was “no longer possible” to stay in the seaside town and that they will be relocated to alternative housing by February 7th, 2025. A further 70 Ukrainian refugees in the Kings Court Holiday Apartments in Tralee, Co Kerry received relocation letters last week. There are reports of other relocation notices issued for 110 Ukrainians in The Avon holiday village in Blessington, Co Wicklow; more than 400 Ukrainians in the former Quality Hotel in Youghal, Co Cork; and 300 Ukrainians staying in the Cork Student Village on the Carrigrohane Road near Cork city. Around 150 Ukrainians living in the former Toughers restaurant outside Carlow town, who were due to leave before Christmas but given an extension, are also set to be relocated at the end of January. Olya Maryntseva, a community worker with North, East & West Kerry Development Programme, who came to Ireland with her two children in 2022, said relocation is “frightening” for people who have already been displaced, sometimes twice, in recent years. “We greatly appreciate the support Ireland has provided, but all of a sudden it’s like you’ve lost interest in us,” she said. Parents of children who have learned English at school, made friends and joined local sports teams are particularly concerned, she said. “They’re being taking away from the environment where they’ve become rooted and being uplifted again. It’s the worst thing you can be doing for children.” Olya Maryntseva says parents are especially concerned at the effects on their children of being taken away from the environment where they’ve become settled. 'It’s the worst thing you can be doing for children' Seeing nearly three years of State-funded integration work being undermined is also deeply frustrating, she said. “Integration is not easy – it’s meeting people on a daily basis, listening to their issues, helping with language barriers, cleaning beaches together, working with the local community. We can see the results and now that’s being taken away.” The lack of flexibility, and the potential for individuals and businesses to plan ahead, undermines the great efforts made to ensure the integration of newcomers from Ukraine into communities across Ireland. Dr Hanna Balytska, a neonatologist who came to Ireland from Odessa in March 2022 and now works at University Hospital Limerick, is particularly concerned about the health implications of relocating vulnerable Ukrainians. Dr Balytska helped set up a Ukrainian health clinic in Bundoran when she arrived in Ireland, where she met many people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. She recalls a pregnant woman who was relocated from Donegal to Roscommon but could not find a new GP, so travelled back to Bundoran for her antenatal and postnatal appointments. “When I worked in the Bundoran surgery I saw people who had already moved two or three times. A high percentage of Ukrainians have PTSD and they feel they can rely on their GP. If you’re moved and get sick, you can get lost in the system. That scares a lot of people,” she said. Dr Balytska said some of her patients who have already been relocated have struggled to get referrals to local doctors. Others can’t find interpreters to speak with doctors. “Some arrive with medication for only 2-3 weeks and end up going to the emergency department for new medicine. The impact of these moves is huge.” More than 50 providers accommodating Ukrainians around the country, with 5,000 beds between them, have received notifications that their contracts are ending in the first quarter of 2025.
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