The community in Sydney has vowed to come together to fight plans to relocate 75 Ukrainians living, working and attending school to new places within days.
There is anger and excitement across the city this week that a significant number of the Ukrainian community living in the Skelig Star Accommodation Centre are to be relocated despite having made a new life for themselves in the South Kerry city.
The Kerryman know they are to be relocated to accommodate applicants for international protection, reports Independent.
The 75 Ukrainians have received letters saying that they will be moved to new housing next Tuesday, May 2. Some will move to new accommodation in the town, others will move to Tralee to the Comfort Inn on Pembroke Street.
At least five people who received letters are working in the Skellig Chocolate Factory and others at locations around the city, and some are also taking educational courses at the O’Connell Center in the city.
Some children attend the local primary school alongside secondary school pupils, reports Independent.
In one case, a family is separated, with some family members moving and others not.
Councillor Michael Cahill said he was “imploring” Minister Roderic O’Gorman TD not to resettle the refugees from Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian people who are fleeing war in their native country, have settled in well in Cahersiveen, with some finding employment, attending courses, the children attending local schools, making new friends, etc. By moving them again, we are visiting more trauma on them, making them move residence, move school and lose jobs. There is no guarantee that options will be as good at a different location,” he said, reports the Independent.
The Scelig Star Accommodation Center has been the subject of controversy since it opened in 2020 to accommodate applicants for international protection, particularly regarding the suitability of the building during the Covid-19 pandemic, which finally emerged in September 2020 in after, reports Independent.
It reopened more than a year ago to serve refugees from Ukraine.
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