Ukrainians get homes in this county for Christmas but councillor says no more

Nearly 170 Ukrainians who have fled war waged by Russia will be living in Laois in purpose-built modular homes by Christmas according to county councillors who have said no to more being built in the town.

Nearly a year and a half since being promised, Laois councillors say that a total of 42 homes will be occupied in December by up to 168 Ukrainians in Rathdowney.

Cllr John King, Fine Gael, provided an update at the December meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District meeting held at Laois County Council's HQ in Portlaoise.

He said he and Cllr James Kelly, Independent, visited the houses as part of an 'open day' organised by the Office of Public Works (OPW) which has built the houses in what's being named 'Spring Cresent'. Department officials overseeing the process were also present.

He said they were informed that the war would be moving into the houses in mid-December. He said this would include 30 secondary school-aged children and 40 attending national school with the remainder being adults.

He said the Laois Offaly Education and Training Board and Tuath housing body is working closely with the OPW and other agencies on housing the Ukrainians and arranging the education of the children locally.

He said St Fegarl's College would be able to accommodate all the secondary school students while Scoil Bhride in Rathdowne had recruited two new teachers to take most of the younger children. Others may attend schools in Errill, Ballacolla or Clough.   

Cllr King said a meeting took place where it was revealed that there were plans to build more modular homes in Rathdowney on the site.

"We put a stop to that...I don't want to see any more additions in Rathdowney," insisted the Fine Gael councillor.

While he said the building of the existing homes was supported the community would not be able to accommodate more.

"We are at full capacity now...I don't want to see any more developments on the Ukraine situation in Rathdowney," he said.

Cllr Kelly was impressed by the units and would be suitable to house local people when the Ukrainians leave. Like Cllr King, he was not in favour of more modular homes being built for Ukrainians.

"They want to put in another 50 units which would mean another 200 people. So, there was a possibility of 368 people coming into a small town like Rathdowney. In the meeting after we said that can't happen," he said.

Cllr Kelly said the other part of the site earmarked for the 50 units should be allocated to Laois County Council for service sites so that local people could build new homes.

Cllr Kelly said the officials told them that the cost per modular home build was €145,000. He added that the buildings have a 60-year warranty.

The homes include a kitchen-dining-living area combined, a bathroom, a small bedroom and a large bedroom. The homes are said to be highly energy-efficient, durable units,

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O'Gorman told TDs recently that the first phase of seven sites would see the completion of 700 rapid-build homes on State-owned land around Ireland. 

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The Central Statistics Office has reported that a total of 1,385 arrivals from Ukraine resided in Laois on October 8, 2023. That represented a rise of 38.5% from the 1,000 refugees living in Laios when numbers were last recorded on June 6 this year.

Laois is also home to a temporary accommodation centre in Stradbally. Heated cabins can house 950 Ukrainians through to June 2024.

In June 2022 the Government approved plans to build 500 modular homes in 20 sites around Ireland, including the one in Rathdowney. The houses were supposed to have been ready by June 2023.