Fórsa members have answered the call following an urgent Department of Social Protection (DSP) request for assistance with the reception of Ukrainian refugees arriving at Dublin Airport.

Staff from across Dublin volunteered over weekends and outside of normal working hours to provide clerical support for interpreters, assisting new arrivals with forms, distributing PPS numbers, and other tasks.

A Fórsa member who volunteered to work in Dublin airport acknowledged the solidarity and generosity of spirit of those working to support displaced people.

“I was working in the airport’s ‘welcome building’ yesterday. There was an eir representative handing out sim cards to the refugees with €20 credit, and we got a delivery from DID electrical with plug in chargers. We set up a charging station in the waiting room to allow people to charge their phones.

“The local garda station also dropped in a bag of used chargers to hand out to people who needed them. There were also interpreters and representatives from Department of Children helping with accommodation needs, as well as buses and taxis laid on,” they said.

They described how buggies, clothes, personal care items and toys were left available for people on arrival. “It was very sad for these people, but it would make you proud to be Irish when you saw the help they were getting. Once people are set up on payments they should be able to buy phones and chargers and reconnect with their families who are still in Ukraine,” they said.

A number of DSP Intreo Centres across the country also opened to Ukrainian customers for emergency applications for PPS numbers and community welfare services over the St. Patrick’s Bank holiday.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Protection has confirmed that all job coaches have moved away from their work in activation to provide social welfare support to Ukrainian refugees.

Dublin-based job coaches will predominantly deal with PPSN allocations for Ukrainians, while those from outside Dublin will deal with general PPSN allocation. This will support the release of Intreo Centre (IC) staff to deal with all other local issues.

Fórsa official Paul MacSweeney said that training will be provided to all job coaches, with a number of sessions already scheduled for next week.

“There are currently between nine and 12 job coaches working from Dublin airport allocating PPS numbers to these Ukrainian refugees, and the Department is working to have interpreters on-site in most ICs,” explained Paul.

“Fórsa is incredibly proud of the work being carried out by our members across DSP in responding to the current Ukrainian crisis and the role our members have played in supporting refugees previously. We are also in discussions about resources to support our community welfare officers who are working with refugees,” he said.

Francis McHugh of the union’s DSP Executive Grades Branch Committee, acknowledged the record of our community welfare officers and other members who have supported displaced people previously, including refugees from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Syria and Yemen.