Moving homes suddenly for Ukrainians is " Very traumatic," says Varadkar

    PA Wire/PA Images

The Taoiseach has admitted that the sudden relocation of Ukrainian refugees to alternate housing is "extremely painful" for them.

Leo Varadkar recommended giving as much advance notice as possible if someone needs to be moved.

His remarks follow reports that Ukrainian families residing in a Dundalk hotel were informed 48 hours in advance that they would be relocated to alternate housing in Limerick and Kerry.

On his first day back in the position of Taoiseach, Mr. Varadkar attended a Christmas lunch hosted by the Irish Red Cross and promoter Harry Crosbie in Dublin's Vicar Street for roughly 100 Ukrainian men, women, and children.

A group of children sang songs in Ukrainian helped along by Santa Claus.

      (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Varadkar said that for the majority of people Christmas is a wonderful time but it can be a very difficult time for some people.

This Christmas would be the first for many Ukrainian children living in Ireland, so he stated, "I'm very much thinking of the Ukrainians who have come in Ireland this year."

"I'd simply like to say hello and take this chance. Remind them that they are extremely welcome in Ireland and that we will make every effort to ensure that they feel at home and that Ukraine receives continued assistance as it works to preserve its democracy and independence.

The leader of Fine Gael stated that many of the Ukrainians who have fled their nation since the start of the war will remain in Ireland over the long term.

"People are starting to realise that this battle might go for a while. And a significant portion of the Ukrainians who have arrived here are probably staying, according to Mr. Varadkar, who also announced that the government will begin making arrangements for longer-term housing.

He claimed that in order to increase the supply of housing, the government will "accelerate" the modular housing initiative in the coming year.

We'll witness the first of such in the upcoming year, and he continued, "I believe that can help us moving forward."

When asked what he would do to assist refugees who were being ordered to leave quickly, Mr. Varadkar responded that he would look into the situation.

The Taoiseach stated, "My opinion is that if individuals must be moved, which happens occasionally, it's vital to give them as much warning as possible because particularly if families and children must switch schools, that can be quite traumatic, so I will make inquiries about that.

Families shouldn't ever be split up, and it's never a good thing when people are pressured to move quickly. That holds true all year long. For obvious reasons, it's especially true over Christmas week," he remarked.

"I'm not really sure what happened, but I'll talk to Minister [Roderic] O'Gorman about it and see if there's anything we can do to make it better," the speaker said.

It might not be possible to avoid it. However, I believe that as a general rule, we should attempt to give individuals as much advance warning as possible if they need to move.

When asked about rumours that a Ukrainian family was being split up because of housing problems, Mr. Varadkar responded that it was "not ideal at all" and that he would speak with the Children's Minister about the situation.