THE decision to move Ukrainian refugees out of their Limerick accommodation and resettle them elsewhere across the county was a decision by the Department of Integration, not the accommodation provider.
That’s according to a spokesman for Duffy Property Group, owners of Westbourne Residence, an accommodation block off Courtbrack Avenue in the city.
This comes as 54 Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Limerick have been given letters stating that they have to leave their accommodation in Westbourne, and will be relocated elsewhere across Limerick City and County.
Anastasiia Lapko, one of the residents affected, told the Limerick Post that the move would be devastating and said that efforts to integrate into the community would be affected by the move.
“We got two letters, the first letter told us that we’ll get the next letter, and after this, we will have 48 hours to grab our things and be ready to move, and only the second letter is supposed to tell us where we’re going to go.
“So we got the second letter, and they give us until March 4, which makes it little bit easier, because we have more time, but at the same time, still not enough to find something else,” Ms Lapko said.
Letters from the Department of Integration told the residents at Westbourne that the property was required for use as student accommodation for nearby Mary Immaculate College (MIC), but Barry Duffy, commercial director with Duffy Property Group, who owns the building, says this is not the case.
Ms Lapko told the Limerick Post that “they said, from September, this place will be used for students, because is’s Westbourne Student Accommodation complex, and we understand this”.
However, Mr Duffy said that “there’s a bit of confusion here in the marketplace, that this was student accommodation, but it was never student accommodation. These three buildings were originally a direct provision centre.
“So it never was for students and some people think ‘oh, it’s going back to students’, we were never blocking student accommodation. We refurbished these derelict buildings into residential accommodations,” Mr Duffy said.
The decision to close Westbourne as an accommodation provider came from the Department, Mr Duffy said, and while the group did all they could to allow the current residents to stay, the Department decided not to renew their accommodation contract.
“We did our best to keep them there, we had no issue with them, they’re very nice people, but unfortunately, the government is just not going to renew the contract,” Mr Duffy said.
The residents of Westbourne have been told that they will be relocated to hotels in the city centre, as well as accommodation in Castleconnell and Bruff, while other Ukrainians have been told to try to secure accommodation in the private rental market using the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) for Ukrainian refugees. However, the ARP programme is due to end in March.
“They recommended us to find something through ARP programme, but at the same time, there is no official confirmation whether this programme will continue or be closed in March, and we are in a hopeless position,” Ms Lapko said.
Appealing for the Department of Integration to give the residents of Westbourne some extra time to sort accommodation, Ms Lapko said that “it’s affecting integration from the bad side, because people already found jobs and are studying.
“There are a lot of kids in schools. There are different difficult cases, like big families and most of the people have pets, and even to find something for rent, landlords don’t allow pets as well. That’s why we asked the Department to to give us more time until June at least to find to finish our things here,” she added.
The Department of Integration were contacted for comment but none was received at the time of going to print.
