The Irish Red Cross has said it is ‘blown away’ by the generosity of the Irish people in offering up accommodation and donating money amid the Ukraine invasion.
The violence entered its 15th day today, and shelling by the Russians continues in cities across the country.
More than 2,500 refugees fleeing the violence have arrived in Ireland so far, and according to figures, almost 12,000 people have offered up accommodation for those in need.
In a statement released today, a spokesperson for the Irish Red Cross said: “We have been blown away by the generosity of the Irish people both from an accommodation pledge point of view and for donating money, they have been simply astonishing.
“We are asking those who have registered with us with offers of accommodation to bear with us and our contact team will be in touch over the coming weeks.
“We have almost 12,000 pledges of accommodation since just last Friday when we had just 180 offers and to put it in context it took a few months to reach 1,000 pledges during our Syrian refugee campaign a few years ago.”
They also praised the Irish business community who have been swarming to offer their help with over 125 companies having got in contact so far.
“We are just so grateful to such a wonderful reaction from the Irish people so far,” the statement said.
According to numbers released, Irish cities have been pledging thousands of accommodation offers including 2,149 Dubliners, while 1,327 in Cork have signed up and 663 in Galway.
