Meath homes pledged to shelter Ukrainian families heads towards 700

The people of Meath have shown tremendous generosity and willingness to throw open their doors to help Ukrainian families fleeing the horrors of the Russian invasion of their country.

Latest Irish Red Cross figures show that 696 pledges of accommodation have been received from Meath - the fourth highest in the country and 8.2 per cent of the overall figure.

Already almost 15,000 pledges have been registered with the Irish Red Cross, with Dublin being the highest with 2,351 offers with Cork (1,676) and Galway (836) being the next largest pledgers.

A spokesperson for the Irish Red Cross said the organisation was trying to process the offers as quickly as possible and urged all those who had made generous offers to open their homes and properties to refugees to bear with them and that it could take a number of weeks before they hear back.

Irish Red Cross Secretary General Liam O’Dwyer said: “Welcoming refugees to Ireland is something the Irish Red Cross has been doing for more than 50 years including from countries like Vietnam, Hungary, Syria and Afghanistan. In 2015 during the height of the Syrian conflict the Government agreed to take in 4,000 Syrian refugees and on arrival gave them protection status and we were privileged to lend assistance here along with the UNHCR.

“Part of our brief here was to build a relationship with a specific group of refugees, learning what their needs and plans were and working to match them with pledged and private rented accommodation throughout Ireland.”

“Typically with this humanitarian work the Irish Red Cross case workers connect refugees with the hosting families and keep in touch to ensure their education or work plans develop properly. At the end of the pledge the case workers helped the refugee access either private rented accommodation or a social house.

If you are in apposition to offer support I the form of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees - Check out the Red Cross register of pledges website - https://registerofpledges.redcross.ie/