Alina Krytska, 29, a tax official from Kyiv, volunteers daily to distract herself from worrying about her family and boyfriend at home. She arrived from Poland on March 9 alone, after a three-day train journey under the constant fear of a Russian attack. “The Irish are really kind. “I have never met such good people,” he said. There is a housing crisis in Ireland and the pressure of new arrivals is beginning to show. There were 16,000 asylum applications in Ireland from 2017 to 2022 and now 22,000 Ukrainians have reached the three months since the February invasion. Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, said about 14,000 Ukrainians have been housed in state-owned accommodation, but the space is rapidly depleting. The Irish Refugee Council has received 2,000 offers from refugees of Irish descent and the Irish Red Cross more than 24,000. The process of approving offers and ensuring their suitability is slow. Nearly half of the 5,357 Red Cross vacancy offers have failed. The government has issued an urgent appeal for new commitments and is considering paying people to house Ukrainians in their cottages. He also draws up plans for “camp-bed” -style accommodation in large “warehouse-style” facilities, which NGOs warn are unsuitable for families. “There are 62,000 holiday homes in Ireland,” said Henderson, who described the public response as “incredible.” “If we can only get 10 percent of that it will make a real difference.” The Catholic Church is considering using its extensive portfolio of real estate to help, and Ireland’s smaller Church is already hosting refugees in their homes. Neale Richmond, TD for Dublin Rathdown, acknowledged that there was a risk of resentment against the Ukrainians, but said he was proud of the Irish response after seeing the crisis play out on their TV and smartphone screens. “You look at cities where you see H&M and Zara and people wearing Adidas tracksuits and they are very related to the Irish,” he said. “We need a lot more people to come to the country anyway and we are not going to get the houses we need if we do not have the people to build them,” added politician Fine Gael.
“There are job opportunities for Ukrainians,” said Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil’s TD for Cavan / Monaghan and chair of the parliamentary friendship group with Ukraine. The war has sparked a debate over Irish neutrality and even NATO membership. “Although Ireland is a militarily neutral country, let me be clear, we are not neutral in this war,” said Simon Cowney, Ireland’s foreign minister, in Kyiv on Thursday.