Council preparing for arrival of 200 more refugees from Ukraine

In preparation for the arrival of “at least 200 more” people from Ukraine in the next two months, Westmeath County Council are “working to identify possible additional medium to large scale accommodation”.

In a statement released this afternoon on their response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the council highlighted the fact that they are using their Community Response Forum to bring services and agencies together to respond to the crisis in a coordinated fashion.

“Membership of the forum includes all the relevant service providers in the county, representatives of voluntary groups and a member of the Ukrainian community,” the council said.

“To date the forum has met on a weekly basis and has worked collaboratively to assist the Ukrainian community with obtaining primary and secondary school places, transport, health services, English language classes, CV preparation skills and numerous other areas of need.

“Several events have been organised to encourage integration and participation, such as National Play Day in Athlone Regional Sports Centre, and the One Million Stars event at Belvedere House.

There are more than 700 Ukrainian refugees accommodated in County Westmeath at present, the majority located in Athlone, Mullingar and Castlepollard.

Details of 62 pledged accommodations were provided to Westmeath County Council, and on initial assessment, 19 of those were viable accommodation and three have been allocated, the council stated.

Remaining viable units are primarily in rural locations, where residents would require their own transport. Westmeath County Council have arranged accommodation in pledged properties for nine people.

“Westmeath County Council are committed to working in collaboration with our partners to address the issues arising with accommodation and assistance of the Ukrainian refugees living in our communities.”