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A NUMBER OF vulnerable Ukrainian residents of Dublin’s Citywest Hotel gathered at the Spire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street today to protest their imminent relocation from the centre.
Many are receiving medical treatment in Dublin hospitals, for conditions including cancer, and will be relocated far away from their doctors.
Citywest has acted as a hub for Ukrainian refugees and other international protection applicants since 2022, when Ukrainians were first offered temporary protection by the Irish government after the war broke out.
The state moved to purchase the facility in September 2025.
In April of this year, the government agreed to begin withdrawing accommodation supports for Ukrainians. The move garnered significant criticism.
Ukrainian people who arrived in Ireland before March 2024 will no longer be entitled to state-contracted commercial accommodation, with the exception of “highly vulnerable” people or those with barriers to independence.
Many of those gathered in the city centre today have been living at the hotel since 2022, and are part of the highly vulnerable cohort.
These people that are to be moved from the site in south Dublin have been offered four alternative sites to take up residence across the country, the nearest being an equestrian centre in Co Kildare.
For those who are vulnerable, some said moving will make life incredibly difficult as they are receiving treatments in Dublin hospitals.
Those present at today’s protest said they are very grateful to Ireland and the Irish government for supporting them over the last number of years, but stressed that the war in Ukraine is still ongoing and they cannot return.
Victoria Danylevska, who has been living in Citywest since 2022, is receiving treatment for metastatic cancer in Dublin.
On 1 July, she and her fellow residents received letters from the Department of Justice advising them to apply for state-contracted commercial accommodation ahead of today’s deadline.
“Most of the people have treatments in local medical centres and hospitals,” she said. “They [the proposed new accommodation centres] are far away from Dublin.”
For those who don’t qualify for extended accommodation support, Danylevska said it’s been difficult for people around her trying to seek private accommodation in the midst of a housing crisis.
“A lot of Ukrainians don’t see the exit in this situation because the price for renting is so high.”
She expressed disappointment that only Ukrainians were being moved from the centre, while other international protection applicants will take up their places.
A lot of people want to remain in Citywest, she said, while others don’t mind being moved elsewhere – “but they want to move to conditions based on dignity, fairness, and humanity”.
Yurii Oleksiuk is another vulnerable resident of Citywest. He is one of 15 people there who are blind. He lives at the centre with his parents.
He can see only lights and shadows, and over the four years he’s spent in Ireland he’s grown used to Citywest and its surrounding areas. He has also learned English in his time here, and can travel independently to Tallaght University Hospital, where he receives treatment.
“I feel free and more independent. It’s very important for blind people to be independent. I don’t want to wait for someone to help me,” he said.
Oleksiuk and others said they were concerned about the conditions of the nearest centre, where a group of Ukrainians are already living.
“I heard there are narrow corridors, and they keep their bags, their luggage in the corridor, and it would be very difficult for blind people to walk and to navigate.”
Several people said they have been told some of the rooms in the nearest centre are without windows.
“I need windows because I see light, and I can navigate myself in the room. I can orientate, and I need natural light to support myself,” Oleksiuk continued. He and his parents have tried to seek alternative accommodation but cannot afford to do so.
In the best case scenario, he would like to remain at Citywest, or be offered more time to find a more suitable solution.
Currently, 16,000 Ukrainian refugees are housed in State-provided accommodation.
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