'Nearly' no more room in Laois for Ukrainian war refugees warns council chief

There is no more room at the inn in Laois for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

Laois County Council CEO John Mulholland has said the county is “nearly there or thereabouts” at capacity.

Speaking this Monday, October 24 at the monthly council meeting, the CEO said that 702 people are now accommodated across the county, mainly in hotels and private homes.

The council recently took on the Red Cross's role of taking pledges of spare bedrooms in private homes, as well as giving emergency assistance to Ukrainians.

“We liaise with families to see if they are still committed, organise Garda vetting and check transport links.

“We deal with it on an emergency basis almost every day. If its not about accommodation, it's about health or liaising with schools. There are a lot of partners involved. But to ask me, I'd say we're nearly there or thereabouts.

“We have 702 at the moment. Most are at hotels, some of them since March, in Durrow and Abbeyleix. A number of private properties bypassed our service and are contracted, in town here and in Clonaslee and they are outside the line of sight of the local authority,” he said.

Below: Laois County Council CEO John Mulholland. Photo: Alf Harvey

Sites and commercial buildings are being viewed to fasttrack temporary homes, but so far none in Laois have been found.

“The department is looking across the country for sites for quickbuild units. A couple in Portlaoise are being examined at the moment, but even at that it would only take 60 or 70 people. Each of these units are all fairly expensive.”

Mr Mulholland was asked by Cllr Willie Aird how many Ukrainian people Laois is told to take.

“There is no fixed formula for deciding how many displaced citizens counties get. It depends on hotels, homes, university campuses, and the number of pledges.

“It was predicted that up to 200,000 would come to Ireland. At the moment it is 60,000. Others are seeking refuge too. There are quite a number from Georgia,” the Laois CEO said.

He said that converting commercial buildings into temporary accommodation is “not easy”, as minimum standards must be met on ventilation, lights, fire alarms, hot water and toilets.

“If they are not commected to a sewer you are talking of a major expense. There is a pitfall of investing and finding no tenants.

“We ran our eye over four or five but none came through. If anyone thinks they have a building that might meet requirements, contact the dept of housing,” Mr Mulholland said.

“We look for sites, we do a preliminary design and we send it to the Department for Children and see if we get any commitment back,” he said.

He expects the Russian war to last until next year.

“When the Ukrainians leave they would be used for some other emergency accommodation, but we are nowhere near that point. We're six months into it and it soesn't look like this time next year we will be out of it. It's a long term emergency.”

Cllr John King suggested that sites and buildings be identfied in rural Laois towns and villages, to boost numbers in rural schools.

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Cllr Ben Brennan said that an owner of a commercial building has told him that he sent in a query to Laois County Council on whether it was suitable but was told a reply would take six weeks.

“That is not good enough,” he said.

The CEO agreed.

“If it is on an emergency footing it should be quicker,” Mr Mulholland said.

Temporary planning permission can be given for emergency Ukrainian accommodation, said Laois Director of Services for Planning, Angela McEvoy.

“Commercial buildings can ask for change of use for temporary accommodation, if they write into us, but only for Ukraine, after that they must be regularised,” she said.