Ukrainian refugees who slept on airport floor say they still have no homes and cannot work without an address

A group of Ukrainian refugees who had to sleep on the floor at Dublin Airport when there was no accommodation for them elsewhere still have no homes and are sleeping in a sports hall in Dublin city.

The refugees have now said the lack of an address is preventing them from taking up job offers and being contributors to society.

More than a dozen of the refugees arrived in the country late last month and have now been processed and have received PPS numbers, but they say accommodation is still a stumbling block.

They are currently staying in Aughrim Street Sports Hall in the north inner city after being helped out by the Capuchin Day Centre charity who have supplied them with food, hygiene products, and a place to shower.

They say the lack of permanent accommodation has the knock-on effect of thwarting their efforts to work here.

“When looking for a job, the first question an employer asks is ‘do you have a place to live?’ At the moment, our team receives job offers, but we cannot take advantage of them because we do not have any permanent housing, so we receive offers to work illegally, which is lower than the minimum wage,” said Sergey Chudayev on behalf of the Ukrainian refugees.

Mr Chudayev also said that Ukrainian refugees with Temporary Protection status have specialised skills confirmed by certificates they obtained in their home country, but they cannot use them here if they are not recognised.

“The Ukrainian community has very high-level specialist skills such as engineers, construction workers, doctors, microbiologists, film makers, IT specialists, and most of them cannot find how to legalise their profile correctly, quickly, step by step,” he said, urging Government help with making their qualifications legal here.

Mr Chudayev said people would rather use their skills and qualifications rather than change their employment choices for lower paid jobs.

He also called for legal assistance so that Ukrainian professionals with extensive experience can find work in areas here that might be complicated by licensing stages or protocols.

“A simple worker cannot go this way on their own, for example, to conduct negotiations for employment or to understand what courses are necessary, they need legal support,” he said.

Presenting a letter of requests to the Ukrainian ambassador at the embassy in Dublin today, Mr Chudayev sought Non-Government Organisations in Ireland to help in establishing a volunteer organisation to represent Ukrainians on the basis of their collective skills, who could take up explanatory work within the Ukrainian community coming to and having arrived in Ireland, creating a Ukrainian job market, and connecting employers with refugees.

At the time the Ukrainian refugees were sleeping in the airport due to a lack of accommodation elsewhere, the Government said it might not be possible to find accommodation for all who want it.

The refugees who found themselves homeless said they would not have travelled here if they had known in advance that there was nowhere to stay, and criticised the Government for a lack of information on the matter.