Ukraine Homes

I think Tìr na nÒg is due to reappear shortly. That should be able to house a few thousand nicely.

It is not known yet how many will come, or for how long. This rubbish about how we can't house our own won't fly. As members of the EU we are going to have to muck in. Given that we are not NATO members and don't spend on defence or contribute much militarily to European security the least we will be expected to do is offer humanitarian aid.

If things stabilise in Ukraine and refugees can go home, it will only have been a tenporary problem. If tens of thousands of refugees become long term residents, that is something else again.

The State will have to get its act together regarding housing and spatial planning, the speed of provision of infrastructure and costs of providing infrastructure.

Refugees who plan to return usually stay close to border they crossed. That means Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

Majority of refugees who move further away from home may have lost everything or simply want a change, these people do not intend to come back. So whatever number will come in here you can bet that most of them will want to stay. Which is quite understandable. Social welfare here is more than they can earn in most of jobs over there.

12,000 people have registered housing offers in their homes with the Irish red cross at the last count, that's more than enough to cope with the current demand.

I think that this is a perfectly reasonable proposal. These people are not immigrants; they're war refugees from what will (hopefully) be a temporary conflict. If I left Ireland for same reasons, I'd just be happy to have shelter without the fear of death before I returned home.

However, what I greatly fear is that certain groups are going to try to profit from this latest episode of human misery.

@patnor1011 "Social welfare here is more than they can earn in most of jobs over there." But the cost of living here is a lot higher, nowhere near covered by social welfare payment. People are also going on about the receipt of medical cards, but again try get a GP to take you on and your first experience waiting 12+ hours in A&E will dampen that freebie right down.

And if you think thats going to happen I have some grass that i want to sell you :)

I know several people i work with who pledged rooms in their houses. When they sat back and thought about it though they realized they didnt think it through and wont be going forward with it.

People already struggling and gas and electricity and petrol to increase like nobodies business. Then food to go up.

You'll have one or more people in your house all the time. Heating on, feeding them.

Its all very noble, and you really feel for the refugees, but there is a reality to this. Can people afford to take in refugees. Will they be able to afford it going forward.

If you get to be friends with the people in your house it would be very hard to show them the door when you start to struggle or find that you no longer feel like you have space in your own home. And what do you say when they go looking for alternative accommodation when the times comes and they find out, as so many irish people are at this very moment finding out when they go to move, that they cant find accommodation on the market.

I know this might come across as an "I'm alright Jack" comment, but remember those many many cubicles for the Covid vax in places like Citywest? Could they be repurposed in the short term as a place to sleep and wash and be fed? A lid on top of the cubicle and a proper door would give privacy. Red Cross or whoever could supply food via our donations. Those centres were set up really fast and fair dues at the time, what is happening to them now though?

I know it is not ideal. But if these places are idle why not?

Buy the dip! Time to get into the ukrainian property market. Due to bounce back any day now!

There's nothing new in that. The Irish electorate has consistently voted in either neo-liberal or leftist parties election after election and stood by whilst the civil service was packed to the rafters with legions of the same.

Furthermore, no debate is allowed in the public sphere, and those who even try to call attention to uncomfortable elephants in the room can have their lives destroyed by twitter mobs. In many ways, the Irish have damned themselves. I suppose it's all well and good if you're living in a mortgage free house with a pension on the way, but that will be paid for by younger generations who have been used to fund these benefits through debt.

I guess we reap what we sow, eh....

I don't think that I can even point out what I'm referring to without getting the thread closed. Read between then lines, if you know what I mean :(.

Given that Ukranians are, in general, a highly educated lot, maybe we could organise an exchange programme and send some of our career dolers out to the front lines?

They are welcome to go to the UK. Why should we stop them going to the UK? We left the UK in 1922!

Most likely it has not been thought out at all. Furthermore, there will be plenty of money to be made from this. Consider this article:

Granted, this is the UK, but it would be safe to wager that something similar will be created here. This will create a financial incentive to take refugees, and it will line many a pocket. Call me cynical, but I would opine that mammon had more to do with the state's eagerness to take in refugees than any humanitarian ambitions. Also, I'm sure that the old Irish ambition to appear as the best boys and girls in the class probably weighed heavily on the minds of the politicians and bureaucrats who are behind this. Likely, the welfare of the refugees and the immense pressure they will place on already strained services were low on the list of priorities.

Anyways, I don't see that 100k+ people will find accommodation in private homes, so it begs the question of where they will be housed. Methinks a disaster is on the cards. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail in the next round of peace talks and this can be averted.

Very few of them will want to go home.

I stayed in Kiev for a month with work about 5 years ago.

During that time I went to a few other places in Ukraine for a bit of travel and Kiev is most definitely the only part of it that you might even think was a modern city that someone might be happy to live in, and that is a stretch.

So I believe that all the refugees wont be from Kiev. Any who arent will definitely see Ireland as a step up and want to stay here.

Kiev will be a bombed out shell of a place, so reasons not to go back there if you think you can do better in Ireland.

Of course you will get some who will want to go back no matter what state it is in, but anyone thinking of improving theirs or their familys lives, will for sure come down on the side of - better life to be had in Ireland. Citizenship to follow, with everything that brings too (Europe).

I know what we did in the 1940s but after the horror was revealed to us I thought we’d be better now. We can see live feeds of what’s happening, we don’t have to wait a decade to see it.

i read a posting on FB from an American I know slightly, he told his family tale of escaping from Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe in 1920s ish. But his other posts are about how the USA must tighten borders, reduce immigration etc.

It would depends on the individual and on their personal circumstances, just as it does today.

Humans are a tribal / family orientated species. If an individual is in a position where their needs are met, they will be open to considering the needs of others as it will not be seen as a “threat” to their own procurement of resources. This is just how we are, and there are very good, evolutionary reasons behind it

Taking the current situation as an example, if someone is struggling to pay rent / pay bills or find a home, the thought of an additional 100k people here is very worrying, regardless of the reasons.  More people means more pressure on resources. It’s very hard to be altruistic when one is themselves in a difficult position, and many people are indeed in difficult circumstances. I myself know a Romanian lady who is facing the loss of her rented accommodation, and she is extremely concerned that she will be unable to find something else if refugees arrive in huge numbers. I think that her worries are not hard to understand…

For my own part, I have sympathy for anyone who is displaced by conflict, but it is also important to bear in mind that there are consequences to every action.  Simply because someone raises concerns does not mean that they are a bad person. What is the right thing to do? I have no idea, but as I have said above, I have severe concerns about the motivations of the state and great worries for what could happen. 

My two cents…

I think they are approaching people now to get housing.

we have an old mobile home. Its about 30 years old. Mainly used a s a shed now, but it still looks like you could live in it, but you cant. It would be freezing and leaks. Even the toilet is decommissioned.

Had someone call in from a charity asking if they could use it to house refugees.