So the Irish government has reverted to type. From getting free bed and board, or housing, plus permission to work AND social welfare, the Dail are treating ‘Ukrainians’ the same as any other ‘refugee’. I’ve used ‘ ‘ for the nationality and status as they have both been stretched by those claiming them and by those who are actual Ukrainian refugees, the latter furious at the image painted by media (then and now), as well as people profitting from the situation.
I spent a little time in Ireland speaking with people who helped those arriving and those who arrived from March 2022. Only people who would give a 1st name, age and allow me to mention where they were based I included. Before I begin, thanks to members of the Association of Ukrainians in the Republic of Ireland (AURI) who were brave enough to give their time and honesty.
Yevhen (Evgeni, as he signs off on our Whatsapps), 24, Donetsk - Works currently with a company in Swords as a driver. Arrived in Ireland Summer 2023 on his Ukrainian passport from Budapest. Had served in the DPR militia 2019-21 in the infantry as a driver. Learned to speak English in school, was friendly with an Englishman “Jeff” who served in the DPR militia with him. Was in Crimea studying when the war began. Last Summer he graduated and with 3 friends travelled via Ukraine to Slovakia and onto Hungary. 2 stayed in Hungary, he and his friend flew to Ireland. Was met at Dublin Airport by a recruiter. Led through refugee application process, spent 2 days in Citywest before being placed in a hotel near Balbriggan. Was claiming his social payment, plus his salary and a housing allowance for a shared apartment near Swords. He lives with 3 other men. 2 from Russia and 1 from Brazil.
My Mother is at home and works with the city. She worries and I want her here. I send her money each month. I like Ireland and to build a life here would be ideal, though if I lose the payment like they say will happen, it will be hard for living. My rent a month is over eight hundred, how can I send money home if I have to pay on my own?
Halina (Galina, as she pronounces it), 27, Lvov - Works in a busy coffee shop in Blanchardstown. Arrived in Ireland in May 2022 from Germany where she had been living since 2018 after deciding not to return following a student exchange (there was a boy involved). Her friend sent her a Telegram channel which advertised jobs in Ireland with free accommodation. She contacted a person, who turned out to be from AURI, and was sent a ticket for a Ryanair flight from Memmingen. Within 72 hours from contacting the person, she had left her couch in Munich, landed in Dublin, been processed, put in a hotel and started working. She now shares a house with 4 Ukrainians, 2 Russians and a Moldovan.
The pandemic destroyed me. My work (in a pub) disappeared and since I had no documents I had no support or social pay. When the war happened I was almost going home, honestly. Why do I stay and have nothing. So I stayed, I went to my old university to help with refugees and saw them all being looked after. Then one day a girl I helped said, try this. I did, the association woman, she contacted me and got me to here and I paid her a fee back. (A fee?) For assistance. (How much?) Fully? Two and a half. (Thousand Euros) I like here. The work, it’s not what I was educated for. (Linguistics) If they do cuts for payments, wow, I mean, come on, Ireland is too expensive. I think I have to go home, or to my Mama in Mariupol.
Rodion, 41, Minsk - Works as a bricklayer, lives with his wife and sons near Lusk in Dublin. He worked as a foreman with a construction company in Belarus which sent him around the country and Russia. Was in St. Petersburg when the war broke out and returned to Belarus April 2022. That Summer he took his family on holiday to Zelenogradsk in Russia. While waiting for their bus to Minsk (in Kaliningrad) he got talking to a man who was going to Gdansk to apply for refugee status. Rodion’s Father was born in Kiev and had a Ukrainian passport. He tracked the man down (his parents had split in 1993) and together applied for and got Ukrainian passports for Rodion, his 2 sons and his wife. They went to Poland in January 2023 and 5 months later flew to Ireland.
We kept the apartment in Poland as safety. It’s a nothing place in a small town, but when they started telling they would cut payments and salaries are so little, we said we go to Ireland. On this one Telegram Channel we got a contact of a woman and she got us the tickets. We came with just the small bag each and in a week we were put in a guesthouse. It’s not so comfortable as we had in Minsk, though it’s a good chance. I paid the woman back fully for the services. (For plane ticket and assistance applying for documents and social payments, how much?) I can’t say all, but it was a lot. (An example) More than five. (Thousand euros) Once they cut benefits, I don’t know. We were late I think. The boys are in school, my wife working too. (As an office cleaner) We have to see.
Yuri and Polina, both 22, Kaliningrad - Both working and studying part-time. Graduated from university in May-June and decided with their friend to try their luck in Ireland. The 3 of them are Russians, but had gotten Ukrainian passports via family members in Ukraine. We’d travelled together from Gdansk this past Summer. They were processed and slept on camp beds in Citywest for 4 days before being put in different houses. What I didn’t know was that a recruiter had spoken with them in Citywest. Dasha, the 3rd of their group, is back in Kaliningrad - for her holidays. She’ll return in mid-January. The trio share an apartment with a couple from Lithuania who are also ‘Ukrainian’ and who had previously lived in Ireland from 2010-15. The 3 are in full receipt of social payments and are enrolled in a Dublin College to prepare for a Master’s Course.
Yuri - If I’d stayed, I probably would serve in the (Russian) army, so better to come here I think. I’m like Dasha, my Mom is Ukrainian, so it was easy getting a passport. If they cut any benefit, I don’t know. I’ll survive, I just have to think what to do.
Polina - I am the same, if benefits go, what to do. We, me and Yuri, went to France for October holidays. We want to go and get married in our home (Kaliningrad) next Summer, so how can we save for this? Dasha is thinking to leave as her boyfriend is now in Spain. They might leave for another country, just to be more looked after.
It’s unfair that the Irish government have given so much for so long to so many, without actually checking if the people landing in were eligible. It’s not the arrivals fault. It is the fault of a corrupt government and media, which was abused by organisations and individuals well placed to take advantage of the situation. As one member of AURI told me - “We lost all respect, like other groups, because suddenly it was about money and nobody wanted to stop.”
Irish journalists, civil servants and politicians can simply scroll through Telegram channels and see (with the push of a button to translate) the organised nature of this debacle from February 26th, 2022. It was well run, well directed and was guided by the same people who traffic Africans and Asians into the Europe. Some Irish are involved, but it’s mainly East European and Turkish, with a Crimean Tatar (based between Moscow and Helsinki) one of the main beneficiaries of the trade. She was born and raised in Volgograd, came to Moscow to marry before leaving for Istanbul. Her travel agency is a legitimate front, with offices in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland and Finland. She has Finnish, Russian, Turkish and UK passports. As a police official in Moscow said - She walks between snowflakes but never gets cold. She won’t be handed a tent and sleeping bag when she loses her free accommodation.
Hi, I just asked Substack who writes on Russia and I found this. Its almost Christmas and I plan to try NOT to spend 10 hours per day reading reports from independent and more main stream journalists over the next few weeks.
I am 67. I grew up in Clontarf and Howth , attended UCD . I need to read more of your posts,. Skimming through we may have developed a similar aversion to propaganda, PR, spin , violence and stupid bombs. I cannot stand the term artificial intelligence. I am not a super mathematician and yet I can understand that all AI is binary and nothing in terms of the complexity of Animate Intelligence.
Jeremy Lent does a great job at explaining this. His knowledge and communication skills are on a different level altogether to mine. I have enjoyed taking courses with him online although I could not keep up.
Jennifer Eberhard has written a book called Biased . She has talks on U tube. She explains how antiblack racism was constructed and also how it is impossible for human beings not to be biased. To some extent it is how our nervous systems function. However we can and must attempt to avoid bias and discrimination and to look at life from different perspectives.
I write the Peace and Joy Rebellion blog on Substack. I am now mostly retired as a medical doctor. While I was very ill between 2017 and 2020 I was unable to move much and was mostly confined to home and in a lot of pain.
I can switch off when I study and study I did as a coping mechanism and I discovered a lot of new to me information. My plan was to write some tongue in cheek posts about my Canadian sitcom suburban life and sneak in some snippets of information for anyone battling an illness and / or anyone helping someone ill.
I planned to write The Lily Diaries about my dog Lily .......... much water under the bridge later I am writing the Peace and Joy Rebellion . I now try to share clips of people I feel are worth paying attention to and who I feel do not get enough attention. I also try to watch and listen to many different news sources . I then try to post clips of people I find credible , who are trying to practice non violence which we know is very risky.
When I cannot take reality any more, I go watch Foil, Arms and Hog and share some of their clips and other clips I find authentic, calming or hopeful. I hate fake and have been fooled often.
Beir Bua, Frances Scully