Against a backdrop of policy shifts, Ukrainian refugee children embrace their Irish lives
Ireland is the place they started school, joined sports clubs – yet their parents worry about how changes to citizenship eligibility may haunt their future.
Mohamed Tienti says that the morning after it happened, he felt ashamed showing his face at work.
Lots of local groups would love to put them to use, says Helen Lahart of Howth Tidy Towns. “We have no theatre, no cinema, no arts centre,” she says.
Meanwhile, as the years pass, many people who used to enjoy going there, now hesitate – reluctant to risk the 60 steps down without even a decent handrail.
But the Honest2Goodness traders may have been pushing at the wrong door, as the warehouse appears to have new owners.
Some residents of Castle Court still aren’t back in their homes. “It’s awful to think … overnight this can just happen,” says local resident Helen Rooney.
They’ve also chosen a new favoured operator, but artists already using the building are worried what it will mean for them.
“One particular facet of living in Dublin city centre that I’ve always found hard to stomach is the persistence of abandoned buildings, which could benefit their surrounding areas.”
Some of the meetings to discuss the city’s housing delivery and services have moved to closed-door workshops too.
There’s a scraggy Irish wolfhound, a fish and fishing rod, an elephant and a pair of vases. There’s no signature saying who made them.
Dublin city councillors at a budget meeting talked about funding to do up vacant social homes, and also for street cleaning.
“Today is the saddest day in Ballymun, when all the till dogs must go their merry way.”
Gazans resident in Ireland who aren’t Irish citizens face high hurdles in getting their family members out of the war zone to join them.