The homes of one in six Ukrainian refugees currently in Ireland have been destroyed by Russian forces, a survey has estimated.
A survey of the 2,200 of the 33,000 refugees already in the State also reveals that there is active fighting in places where 44 per cent of them have come from.
The survey, carried out by volunteers in the Ukrainian Community in Ireland, involved 2,200 people now living in Ireland.
Of those surveyed, 74 per cent of adult refugees are now looking for a job in Ireland and 24 per cent have already found one.
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However, only one in five of those employed are doing what they did in Ukraine.
Nevertheless Ireland is “top of the list for people”, according to Ganna Bazilo of the Ukrainian Community in Ireland network which organised a gathering for Ukrainian refugees at the Red Cross centre in Vicar Street on Saturday.
“People come here because of the English language, they are told there are jobs available here and they will be able to contribute economically here,” she said.
“English is taught from the first grade at school. The younger generation can speak better English. Our survey identified that speaking English at the professional level is one of the obstacles. They can communicate in their daily routine, to find a job is more complicated.”
Many refugees can find a job but have no accommodation, others have accommodation, but no job. Transport is an issue for those who are living in rural areas, she added.
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Roderic O’Gorman, the minister with responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, said his department is now helping to house 24,000 of the 33,000 people who have come to Ireland since the war began on February 24th.
Mr O’Gorman, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, explained that many refugees are staying in hotels as short-term accommodation, but not all of that will continue during the holiday season.
“We have been hugely assisted by the fact that many universities are allowing us to use their accommodation over the summer which gives us some capacity there.”
Mr O’Gorman said “undoubtedly the system is under significant pressure” but Ireland will continue to take in Ukrainian refugees.
“When you look at the images of what is happening in Donbas, people are coming here because they are afraid in their own country and as long as we can provide people with shelter and security, we have to continue to make that offer,” he said.
Tatiana Tserakhto, whose home in Mariupol has been destroyed, has been living in Ireland since April.
She said the attitude of Irish people has been “very positive”. She and other refugees were staying in a hotel in Duleek, Co Meath.
“It has just opened. It is clean. They are very kind people. We are looking for work, but we have got problems because this small town is far from anywhere.
“I would like to work but don’t have opportunities to get there because we have no car and we travel by bus.”
Ms Tserakhto, who worked in insurance in Ukraine, said she is looking for any kind of job in management. Many Ukrainian refugees in Ireland are working mothers, she adds. “To work they should be placed closer to the city and to the places where they can find jobs.”
Anna Sydoruk arrived in Ireland in March with an Irish medical student Eamonn O’Brien who was studying in Kyiv and fled the fighting.
His family put her up for the first couple of months in Co Galway, but she has now secured a job in administration at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
She said she is staying with a “friend of a friend of a friend” because it has been very difficult to secure accommodation in Dublin.
