The red uniforms of the international Red Cross are a familiar sight in some of the worst areas of conflict across the world.
There are over 700 Red Cross volunteers working in Ireland and they are one of the first points of contact when Ukrainian citizens arrive in Ireland escaping the war in their country which has destroyed their homes and cities.
Irish Red Cross volunteers are meeting Ukrainian refugees at Shannon Airport and providing them with food, clothing, personal hygiene items and information on their rights | Read more: https://t.co/bGnwa9Xci4 pic.twitter.com/HCpv7faoBO
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 19, 2022
A unit of the Red Cross is based at Shannon Airport to meet Ukrainian refugees who arrive in on flights six days of the week from Krakow and Wroclaw in Poland and from Budapest in Hungary.
Aidan Lonergan is a Garda sergeant based in Co Clare and volunteers with the Red Cross where he is national director of community support.
He is part of a team who are meeting people as they escape to Ireland and land into Shannon airport.
"Shannon airport staff have provided dedicated airport rooms for us and we do our best to welcome them when they first arrive, offering them basic items of food clothing and personal hygiene items, and also a quiet room with facilities like internet services, phone rechargers and soft toys for the children, and signs about services in their own language," Mr Lonergan said.
"Very often they just need some time and space to be quiet and sit down after what has been a traumatic journey to get to Ireland."
Aebh O'Callaghan, who is a Red Cross volunteer for many decades and who has worked with refugees coming into Shannon, said they are completely exhausted by the time they arrive.
"Many of the Ukrainians are women and children and grandmothers," she said.
"They are at the point of being catatonic with tiredness and hunger after the trauma of what they have witnessed, and the panic and distress in trying to travel and escape."
They need a quiet space to just sit and we can talk to them and comfort them in whatever way we can before they move on to their accommodation."
"Very often when we do follow up calls with them at their hotel accommodation they are much brighter and grateful after a good night's sleep and some nourishing food and the knowledge they are now in a place of safety," she added.
From Shannon Airport they are transferred into the care of the International Protection Accommodation services or - IPAS - which is attached to the Department of Children and is the agency which normally deals with people seeking asylum or international protection.
They are charged with finding accommodation for displaced Ukrainian citizens and have contracted over 2,500 hotel rooms across the country to provide a base for them for the short term.
Rooms at hotels in Limerick city, Shannon, Kilkee and Lisdoonvarna have been secured so far to accommodate not just those who arrive through Shannon but also those who have arrived through Dublin Airport and ports across the country.
The Irish Red Cross can bring them to their accommodation if it's located in Co Clare or close to it, or for longer journeys a third party transport service is used.
In addition to the efforts of the Red Cross, international students at the Shannon College of Hotel management have also volunteered their services as translators.
Anna David from Poland and Violetta Papai from Hungary, say many Ukrainians speak Polish and Hungarian and they can help them to translate.
The students have also offered their hospitality skills to hotels in the region volunteering to get them ready in time for refugees.
The college is also offering English language classes, cultural immersion and European adaption programmes used by their own foreign students when they arrive into the college, which also are on offer should Ukrainians wish to avail of them once they settle in.
Support hubs have now opened in Dublin and Cork, and a third will open in Limerick city next week to help process the needs of families when they arrive, giving them PPS numbers, permission letters and establishing education links for children, and easing the administrative needs they have to stay here.
Independent TD for Clare Michael McNamara has called for a dedicated reception centre to also be established at Shannon, similar to the one at Dublin Airport.
"I welcome the announcement by Minister Helen McEntee that a support hub is to be set up in Limerick, but that's another journey of over 30kms for those who arrive at Shannon airport to undertake, and can cause further distress, when it would make their lives easier for the facility to be located at Shannon," he said.
