The head of Clare County Council’s response to the Ukrainian crisis says the local authority’s focus will remain on sustaining and delivering services in communities in the medium term.
Six months on from the beginning of the war, there are now just under three thousand displaced migrants living in this county.
The latest CSO figures show that since the International Protection Act was enacted last March, just shy of 2,700 Ukrainian refugees have come to Clare.
They’re living in hotels, B&Bs and homes across the county, with the largest portion of displaced refugees in the North Clare area.
Since the beginning of the humanitarian response, more than 20 agencies have come together in Clare to form the Community Response Forum, including Gardaí, the HSE, Tusla, the ETB, the CLDC and Lisdoonvarna Fáilte.
They met in the past week, and the local authority says the focus in the medium term will be on sustaining and delivering services in communities.
Jason Murphy has recently been appointed Acting Director of Service leading Clare County Council’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
He says the reality is they’re dealing with a fluid situation and it’s importnat to ensure towns and villages remain focused and that the benefits of the migrant population are harnessed within the community.
Listen back to the full interview here:
Lisdoonvarna-based Fine Gael Councillor Joe Garrihy believes that while progress on dealing with the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis locally has been made, there are still ‘multiple issues’ to be dealt with however.
