THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS to “take a more humane approach” to how it is housing Ukrainian refugees.
That’s according to Emma Lane-Spollen, the national coordinator with the Ukraine Civil Society Forum.
She was speaking to RTÉ’s ‘This Week’ as Ukrainian refugees being housed in student accommodation begin to vacate campuses to make way for students.
Lane-Spollen said it is “not yet known” where these people will be moved to – around 2,500 Ukrainian refugees are due to leave student accommodation by the end of this month.
She added that the uncertainty is “appalling” and that the “constant relocation and lack of knowing where they are going is deeply re-traumatising”.
While Lane-Spollen praised the work of the Department of Children in finding emergency accommodation, she accused the Government of a lack of forward planning and of an “over-reliance on hotel accommodation”.
She’s called for the government to “establish a refugee agency and ensure that the budget in 2023 is investing in refugee accommodation, welfare and integration”.
Latest CSO figures reveal there have been just under 48,000 arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland since the Russian invasion, with women and children making up the majority of these arrivals.
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