Tag Archives: refugees

WITH the amount of Ukrainian refugees in Ballyvaughan now greater than the permanent population of the village, the local Community Development Group has asked that no more be housed there. With local services struggling to cope, Ballyvaughan Community Development Group wrote to Minister Roderic O’Gorman last week about the issue. The group claimed the population of the area had suddenly risen from 300 to 700, and as a result the local national school is struggling, while there are long waits for appointments at its Medical Centre. It also warned that small businesses that rely on Ballyvaughan tourism will struggle if there is no tourist accommodation and that the winter could see a lot of boredom and frustration among the new arrivals, due to the relatively meagre facilities in the area. “The local community is becoming increasingly frustrated and angry with the lack of Government support and the lack of communication between IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services ) and the local …

FIGURES released last week show that 2,452 Personal Public Services Numbers (PPSN) have been issued to Ukrainians in Clare, but the numbe of arrivals here may actually be much higher. Orla Ní Éilí of the Clare Immigrant Support Centre said, “We’re a bit confused by the numbers, they’re based on PPS numbers, which people have to have. “But we can tell you in the hotels there are around 2,500 people at this stage and out in the community there are a lot more. We would say that Clare has had 10% of arrivals from the word go.” Should that be the case, then there would be approximately 3,500 Ukrainian refugees in the county. Ms Ní Éilí said that many people are still coming, with around 26 arriving on one day last week alone. Clare Immigrant Support Centre has never had to deal with a situation like this, with so many people arriving at one time, she said, while noting that …

HOME for Natalia (25) and Pedro (28) is now at the Oakwood in Shannon, having left their native Lviv after Russia’s invasion. Also with them are Natalia’s 16-year-old brother and her six-year-old sister. At the moment her brother is still getting online education from Ukraine just as Irish children did during the various lockdowns, while her sister is one of 13 Ukrainian children at St Conaire’s. While both want to return to Ukraine as soon as will be possible, Natalia is delighted with the welcome they have received in Shannon. “It’s lovely here. We have a place to stay, food, schools, English classes, everything we need is here.” Her parents are still at home in Ukraine, and due to the nature of their jobs in a medical company there, they cannot leave. Pedro’s father is also still at home, but his mother and sister have left for Italy, where they have relatives. Pedro himself was already out of Ukraine by …

A KILLALOE based tennis coach, who has introduced the sport of tennis to residents of a Greek refugee camp, is urging the public to support charities like Lighthouse Relief who are helping those fleeing war torn countries. Wesley O’Brien, a coach at the Killaloe Tennis Club said while the issue may have gone off the news cycle, it is still a major international crisis that needs continued support. He said rather than sitting on a beach in Lanzarote he wanted to do more with his skills and wanted share the joy of tennis with those less fortunate. In 2018 he got in touch with a number NGOs and was directed to Lighthouse Relief, who work with refugees from Syria, Iraq and Turkey. The charity has a base on the island of Lesvos where they have a first responder team who help migrants fleeing by boat. Their second base is at the Ritsona refugee camp where they cater for more than …

BEFORE the summer, Clare will see the arrival of Syrian refugees who will be housed in Sixmilebridge, Shannon and Newmarket-on-Fergus. At a meeting of Shannon Municipal District on Tuesday, director of services Ger Dollard told the local representatives that 15 to 20 families are to be settled in Clare, with nine of them set to arrive in April or May. These first nine are to be settled in Sixmilebridge, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Shannon. He also said an inter-agency group has been established to facilitate their settlement in the county. Mr Dollard told the members that accommodation costs would be borne by the council’s normal funding. However, he said he had no doubt that the allocation received by the council would reflect the extra demands being made. Speaking afterwards, he said the family sizes would range from three to seven. “We have set up the inter-agency group and it will require all of their involvement. We have been asked, and I can …

A logistics expert from an international development agency has joined the Clare to Calais campaign, after it grew from a single van to a nationwide humanitarian aid convoy. The group will bring supplies from Ireland to the French port on September 30, in response to the international refugee crisis. Róisín Ní Gháirbhíth from Inagh and her friend Tracey Ryan, from Cork, began the movement less than two weeks ago. Now they have raised nearly €60,000 and are bringing two trucks, 20 vans, three campers and several cars of goods to the migrant camps in Calais and are considering adding a 56-seat bus of volunteers to distribute the donations. “It is so big now we are meeting with a logistics manager later this week and we are very lucky in that a man who had been travelling has just come back and has volunteered to be a full-time administrator until we go on September 30,” Ms Ní Gháirbhíth told The Clare …

KILMALEY man Eamonn Meehan, executive director of Trocaire, met with Pope Francis in Rome last month during a meeting of overseas development agencies about the crisis in Syria. “We have a huge moral authority and we should use it and not accept or let anyone else accept that this war be left to just play itself out,” Eamonn Meehan said at the meeting. Pope Francis agreed with him saying that many refugees in Syria were suffering. “We must accept with great sorrow that the Syrian crisis has not been resolved, but instead continues, and there is the risk of growing accustomed to it and of forgetting the victims claimed on a daily basis, the unspeakable suffering, the thousands of refugees, which include the elderly and children, who suffer and at times die of hunger and of diseases causes by the conditions of war,” Pope Francis said. Trócaire had been supporting local partners in the region since March 2012. Donations from …