Council seeks elected members help in sourcing more Tipperary properties for Ukrainian refugees

Tipperary Council Council is seeking the help of its elected representatives to source more properties in the county to turn into temporary emergency accommodation for Ukrainians fleeing the war - as the number of refugees arriving in Ireland is expected to swell to 75,000 by the end of May.

Council Director of Services Karl Cashen detailed to the council’s April meeting on Monday the Herculean efforts by council staff, Civil Defence and community groups to transform at short notice the Dr Pat O’Callaghan Sports Centre in Clonmel and Moycarkey-Borris Community Centre in Littleton into emergency accommodation centres for more than 100 Ukrainian refugees.

Mr Cashen told councillors this was a “major crisis” and accommodation provided up to now was only a small fraction of what will be needed as this war is not going to be over soon and the refugee crisis is going to get worse.

He reported that hotel accommodation available in the county for refugees is nearly at capacity.
Mr Cashen, who is chairing the council’s Ukrainian refugee response team, told councillors he wanted to talk to them about identifying suitable properties in their communities.

The meeting heard the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS), which is part of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth, has tasked all county councils to find accommodation for Ukrainian refugees in the wake of up to 10 million people fleeing the Russian invasion.

Mr Cashen explained most of these refugees migrated into EU countries along Ukraine’s borders but to avoid these countries having a disproportionate number of refugees it was decided that all EU Member States take a proportion of those displaced by the conflict.

The first refugees to arrive in Ireland came to stay with friends and relatives living here but in the last number of weeks the Ukrainians arriving in Ireland have been depending increasingly on the State to provide for their accommodation needs. There were between 600 and 900 refugees arriving per day and 81% required full State support for accommodation.

Mr Cashen said the first request the council received from the IPAS was to provide 50 beds at short notice and it was able to provide those beds for refugees in a hotel in Clonmel.

The meeting also heard from Thurles councillor Jim Ryan that refugees are being accommodated in the Anner Hotel in Thurles at the moment.

Mr Cashen said last Wednesday week the council received an email from the IPAS requesting it to provide accommodation for about 50 people by that Friday.

All the hotel accommodation was booked out but the council got agreement from the Moycarkey-Borris Community Centre committee and with just 48 hours’ notice the council converted the centre into temporary accommodation, purchasing 50 beds and accessories like bed linen and sourcing catering, cleaning, laundry and translation services.

Everything was in place by the Friday and the refugees arrived in Littleton last Saturday week.

The initial group of 59 refugees to stay in Littleton, mostly women and children, have since been moved to accommodation in county Clare.

Mr Cashen said another group of 50 refugees arrived there last Saturday and the council expects them to be moved on this week.

Mr Cashen explained that as hotel accommodation available to the council was nearly at capacity, refugees arriving in the county will increasingly have to be accommodated in properties like the Littleton centre.

The council has reached an agreement with the committee of Clonmel’s Dr Pat O’Callaghan Sports Centre to provide similar size emergency accommodation for the same number of refugees and it was hoped to have it ready after the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend.

The Clonmel sports centre is being engaged for a minimum period of three months, similar to the Littleton centre.

Mr Cashen said Thurles Lions Trust is taking over the ongoing management of the emergency accommodation for refugees at the Moycarkey-Borris Community Centre. Fellow council Director of Services Brian Beck confirmed the council will do something similar with the Dr Pat O’Callaghan Sports Centre and work with a community group to operate the emergency accommodation there.

He pointed out that the local authority sector was going to have to provide emergency accommodation many times greater than what has already been provided to cater for the influx of refugees expected to arrive in the country in the coming weeks. The 21,000 refugees currently in the country was expected to increase to 40,000 by the end of this month and 75,000 by the end of May.

Addressing the council’s elected members directly, he said: “We are looking at institutional accommodation no longer in use such as convents and boarding schools.

“I am going to talk to you to identify accommodation that may be idle. This is a major crisis facing us.”

Mr Cashen, meanwhile, paid tribute to the Civil Defence members and all the volunteers for the efforts they have made to get the emergency accommodation ready for the refugees arriving at Littleton, who were full of praise for the welcome they received from the volunteers and council.

Tipperary County Council CEO Joe MacGrath paid tribute to council staff involved in sourcing and setting up the emergency accommodation.

They had worked “way above the call of duty” working night and day over the past few weeks.

“None of us knows what it’s like to have family members woken up at 5am and told to get out of your home because your life is under threat. That is the situation these people find themselves in.

“It’s a shocking situation for them to be in and it requires an understanding humanitarian response.”

He said great credit was due to all the communities in Tipperary for their response.

Councillors who spoke at the meeting overwhelmingly supported the plight of Ukrainian refugees, praised the council’s efforts to secure emergency accommodation for them and the work of community volunteers. Many also cited examples of fundraising for Ukrainian humanitarian appeals in their communities and individuals offering and providing accommodation for arriving refugees.

Clonmel Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said constituents had contacted her about donating items like children’s clothes to the refugees who will be arriving at the Dr Pat O’Callaghan Centre in Clonmel.

She asked where should donated items be sent? Mr Cashen responded that the Civil Defence had said there wasn’t a need for donations at the moment. If a need arose, the council will put a call out for donations.

Mr Beck explained that the accommodation being provided at Littleton and Clonmel was very temporary and the refugees won’t be taking lots of stuff with them.

Cllr Sean Ryan from Littleton praised the huge work put in by the local community and council to get the Moycarkey-Borris Centre ready and paid tribute, in particular, to Delores Fahey and Anthony Graham for their trojan work

He recounted how a Ukrainian man on arriving in Littleton found out that his mother, father and uncle were killed by a bomb in his home country.

“The difficulties these people are going through are absolutely traumatic,” he said.