'Don't overthink it': Woman urges others to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees
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A Wicklow woman who invited two Syrian refugees to live with her during the 2016 humanitarian crisis has advised people seeking to help civilians fleeing Ukraine: “Don’t overthink it.”
The Red Cross register of pledges, a portal for people here to register their desire to share their home or offer a vacant property to refugees from Ukraine, has received more than 6,100 pledges in the three days in which it has been active.
The unprecedented support being offered by families here initially led to the Red Cross portal crashing, with the level of demand far outstripping capacity.
Now, with the aid of volunteers and a scaling up of the portal’s capacity, a huge amount of registrations have been processed, with many more expected.
“What I would wonder now is whether or not the Red Cross will be getting the support it deserves, be it from Government or wherever, in order to scale up its caseworkers to deal with the demand,” one source close to the operation told the
The same sentiment was expressed by multiple stakeholders close to the project.
Similar previous drives for familial accommodation to be made available to refugees, such as from war-torn Syria, faced capacity and communications issues.
Wicklow woman Angela Flynn, however, spoke glowingly of her experience with the Red Cross and the two refugees, Mahmoud Altouba and Baara Hindi, she took into her Kilmacanogue home in 2016. One of the two ended up staying with Ms Flynn, her partner and her daughter for two and a half years.
“We went through the Red Cross and the support was fantastic. They came out for a visual inspection and assessment of the house and then they linked us with the two guys, who came up with their support worker,” Ms Flynn, a 51-year-old guidance counsellor, said.
“We gave them their own fridge and presses and they looked after themselves. They shared a bathroom and had a room each. They cooked for themselves - really they were two young fellas on their phones all day to their families in Syria. Then they got settled and made friends.”
The two Syrians had qualified for social welfare upon arrival in Ireland, and then got jobs “straight away.”
“Then you charge a token rent, like €50 a week - if you don’t people don’t value it in the same way,” she said.
“It’s no cost to yourself except to run your own home. You don’t have to feed them. They don’t want to be here, they’ll be independent so fast.”
She noted that the Ukrainian situation “will be different.”
“You’ll have families coming in, women and children. The Syrians were all men."
Nevertheless, if you’re interested, she said, “I wouldn’t overthink it.”
“We had a daughter and two young lads coming in, I had thought maybe that might be a problem. They got on fine. The things you’re expecting to be a problem won’t be,” she said.
Ukrainians entering Ireland at present (1,800 have to date) are given short-term accommodation and PPS numbers.
People wishing to register their interest in offering accommodation can do so at registerofpledges.redcross.ie.
Those applicants are having their registrations filtered by volunteers - about 10 of them, including some professionals from Web Summit and 3 Ireland - to see what they are offering.
Then a three-step vetting process begins - it involves an initial call from the Irish Red Cross contact centre, which is currently being staffed by 20 people. There is then a check of the property by a member of the IRC. Then, close to a match being made, a special case officer from the IRC will visit the property for a second time. No Garda vetting will apply.
That vetting and settlement process is slated to take between two and three weeks.
The placements themselves are set to last between six and 12 months.