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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
David Kent

Ireland has welcomed 5,500 Ukrainian refugees as Taoiseach defends security check attitude

The Taoiseach has said that Ireland has now welcomed 5,500 Ukrainian nationals fleeing the Russian invasion.

Micheál Martin also defended the country's stance on security checks for those arriving into the country.

Mr Martin made the comments to BBC Breakfast on the second day of his two-day trip to England.

On Saturday, he attended the Six Nations tie between Ireland and England at Twickenham beside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The pair had held a meeting earlier that afternoon.

When asked by BBC host Sophie Raworth whether there had been security checks on Ukrainian nationals arriving, Mr Martin replied: "No. Our primary impulse is to assist those fleeing war and we believe that's the correct thing to do.

"There is always a balancing of issues, we keep channels open with our UK counterparts - the Home Secretary (Priti Patel) and our Minister for Justice Helen McEntee have been in regular contact.

"I met with the Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) yesterday, he paid tribute to what Ireland is doing on the humanitarian front.

"We can all see the humanitarian crisis, we do know that that can be exploited by certain bad actors," he said.

"But our security personnel will keep an eye on that in a more general way."

The Department of Justice is operating a special visa waiver system to help make it easier for those escaping the Russian invasion.

In total, UNICEF believe that over 2.5 million people have now fled Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24.

The majority of those have made it into Ukraine's neighbouring countries like Poland, Moldova and Slovakia.

It is believed that more than 500,000 children have also been forced to leave their homes as airstrikes and fighting continues.

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