THE TAOISEACH HAS called on Irish people to “do everything we possibly can” to support Ukrainian people arriving in Ireland following Russia’s invasion of their country.

Micheál Martin said approximately 1,800 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since Russia launched its war and the numbers arriving are “growing day by day”.

He said every government department is preparing to ensure that the people are offered the supports they need after arriving in Ireland. 

“As of now, about 1,800 have arrived into Ireland, Ukrainian people fleeing the war… Including 486 yesterday, so it is growing and increasing day by day,” the Taoiseach told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show.

“About two-thirds of arrivals have connections with families in Ireland but that number is decreasing.

“In other words, more and more who don’t have connections with families in Ireland are arriving and it is fair to say we can expect that to increase significantly over the coming weeks.”

The Taoiseach said the crisis sparked by Russia’s aggression on its neighbour is the worst displacement of people in Europe since the second world war.

When asked how Ireland’s housing, health and education sectors would cope with the influx of people, the Fianna Fáil leader said: “The bottom line is this is an exceptional humanitarian crisis brought about by war”.

“It is a wartime situation and therefore our response has to be different to a non-wartime situation and all of us will have to do everything we possibly can to make those services accessible to Ukrainians who are fleeing a war.

“To welcome them and to do everything we possibly can to ease the trauma that they have experienced in recent times, and it will be very, very challenging, I am not pretending otherwise.

This is something we have never experienced before. We have never experienced the scale of this before.

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Martin said the government aims to house the arriving Ukrainians in State accommodation “insofar as we possibly can”.

He also said that Ireland may need to vaccinate significant numbers of the people against Covid-19.

James Browne, minister of state in the Department of Justice, estimated yesterday that the number of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland could exceed 80,000.