A Ukrainian woman who has been living with her nine-year-old child in a tent used to accommodate refugees close to the Stradbally Hall estate has said the site is not suitable for children.
'Anna' - not her real name - has been living at the site for five days, and said while adults can cope with the cold and wet weather there, it is a problem for children.
The estate, which hosted the Electric Picnic last month, is currently housing around 450 Ukrainian refugees in tents.
This week, the first group of refugees were moved out of tents in Co Laois, after spending a little over two weeks there.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Anna said: "It's really cold for kids, but for adult, it's ok, for kids, it's a problem … inside there are, beds, sleeping bags, heater, everything for normal life. It's somewhat comfortable. But for kids, it's not good conditions".
Anna believes the cold conditions at the site are having an impact on her and her child's health. Both are currently suffering with sore throats and headcolds.
She also believes the shower facilities at the site are not suitable.
"They are half outside and half inside, but if you go outside, it's cold after a shower. But in the shower, we do have warm water and hot water. We don't have facilities for kids though. It's only women’s showers and men’s showers. No facilities for kids, so it's not suitable to shower kids there," she said.
Anna also says people have to pay to use the washing machines that are on site.
"I don't have money for that. You have to pay €2 but I don't have cash at the moment," Anna said.
Tented accommodation is now the primary source of accommodation for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees.
Anna says she is worried about what impact tented accommodation will have on her child.
"My child cannot stay in a tent in winter time," Anna said.
Emma Liston, a member of Laois Integration Network, says recreational tents, are only designed and intended for short stays of two nights in holiday destinations.
Emma says up until last weekend, there were no heaters in the tents at the site in Stradbally.
"Carpets are in the tent and they're intended to cope with mud and so on. But if there's any rain, there's puddles inside of the tent. When it's windy at night, people are sleeping where they're hearing all of the elements sitting against the tent and rain is coming in. It's just a zip door.
"There are families with small children. They are showering in a long marquee-type tent with cubicles inside of it. Outside there's super track on the ground. But everything that's there is there. It's what was designed for short-term holiday stays," Ms Liston says.
Earlier this week, Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman said the use of tents as accommodation will stop shortly at Stradbally.
"The use of the tents in Stradbally will stop in mid-October. We're working in terms of providing longer-term accommodation for that group. Some of them have been moved this week to alternative accommodation and we're always procuring additional accommodation and bringing it online," Mr O’Gorman said.
"I've been very clear tented accommodation isn't the optimal approach. It's not what I'd like. But we're under real pressure right now in terms of the provision of accommodation.
"When you're accommodating 93,000 people, you have to use all options. And right now tented accommodation forms part of those options."
