As countries continue to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland, Blacklion is the latest village to see war refugees arrive.

Last week, 30 Ukrainians, ranging in ages from 4 to 74 years old, arrived in the Border village in Cavan.

The Cavan County Local Development are to the fore in helping the Ukrainians settle in the county.

“One of the programmes we have is a social inclusion programme,” explained Sandy Holland from Cavan County Local Development.

“So this is how we are responding to the emergency needs of the Ukrainian families that are arriving in Co. Cavan, and we are providing supports to them and the community to try and help them become established for the longer term.”

While it is still early days, Sandy said the most important thing at the minute was getting the right support in place of the refugees and getting them settled as quickly as possible.

To help with this, he said the local community have rallied to support them: “One of the the things people needed straight away was not just clothes, but kitchen equipment.

“We put out a call on Facebook on Friday night, and we had the five apartments’ kitchens kitted out within a few hours, just from donations. So people are responding really well.”

Also there to meet the Ukrainian people coming to Blacklion was Fianna Fáil Co. Cavan Councillor, John Paul Feeley, along with Ena McGinley and Caroline McHugh of the local Conference of Saint Vincent de Paul, Fr. Loughlain Carolan and Niamh Feeley.

“Arrangements are being made to put supports in place and in the short term we are working to get the children enrolled in the local primary and secondary school,” said Councillor Feeley.w

“These people have been driven from their homes, and come with little more than the clothes on their back. We must do all we can to make them welcome and support them as they put their lives back together.”