Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Speaking Community

Soláthar Seirbhísí Sláinte: Plé.

Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald:

As the Deputy will know, in some cases we are running to stand still. This is a rapidly evolving situation. The HSE website is the first port of call. The address is www.hse.ie/ukraine. On that page, there are multiple resources in Ukrainian and Russian. We are also reaching out to the Ukrainian medical community and the Ukrainian community in general. Mr. Reid is overseeing a large HSE response. We have multiple work streams. Within social inclusion, we have social inclusion managers and workers at local level reaching out to those in the communities and in accommodation provided by the international protection accommodation services of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The challenge is that there are more than 120 new accommodation facilities for Ukrainians. They are in many rural parts of the country, including in some hotels that have never had experience of being a direct provision facility. We are working hard with our partners in Government and in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Mr. Reid is probably also working with local authorities and the Civil Defence. There are multiple ways to engage, including through NGOs. At primary care level, there is a significant initiative in place to support GPs. The HSE has rapidly developed an interpretation and translation service that will also be available on the ground.

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