{"id":61021,"date":"2025-08-12T06:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T06:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/61021\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T06:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T06:42:07","slug":"palestinian-mothers-of-seriously-ill-children-refuse-relocation-to-donegal-due-to-healthcare-concerns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/61021\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian mothers of seriously ill children refuse relocation to Donegal due to healthcare concerns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mothers of eight seriously ill Palestinian<\/a> children have said they will not leave their Dublin accommodation on Tuesday when they are scheduled to be transferred to new housing in Co Donegal. <\/p>\n

The Irish Red Cross<\/a> (IRC) had arranged for six families to be moved from private residential housing in South Dublin, where they have lived since arriving in Ireland in December, to an apartment complex in Letterkenny<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It said the Dublin accommodation will be unavailable from September and is keen to relocate the Palestinian families before the new school year begins. Consultation with the families regarding this move began last March. <\/p>\n

However, the women are concerned for their children who were medically evacuated to Ireland. They fear they will not receive adequate healthcare in Letterkenny and say there was no clear consultation. They have called for the relocation to be postponed until alternative accommodation can found within a two-hour commute of Dublin. <\/p>\n

The mothers, their sick children and 11 younger siblings arrived in December 2024 as part of the State\u2019s commitment to evacuate up to 30 ill children from Gaza<\/a> via Egypt. A second group of paediatric patients arrived in May. The arrival of the third group of up to 18 children has been stalled amid concerns over visas<\/a> for their siblings.<\/p>\n

The mothers learned of their transfer in a letter dated July 29th from the IRC, which is contracted by the Department of Health to support the families. <\/p>\n

The letter, seen by The Irish Times, noted all the children\u2019s medical needs had been transferred to Letterkenny University Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur medical appointments were moved without asking,\u201d the mothers said in a statement. \u201cWe are being told to leave on a specific date, by a specific bus, or we risk losing access to basic services. This feels painfully familiar. This feels like Gaza again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being told to relocate \u201cwith one week\u2019s notice feels like an eviction, a forced relocation and is very traumatic considering what happened to us in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018But Ireland loves us,\u2019 the children said. They were not the only ones confusedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter eight months of fragile stability in Dublin \u2013 months of healing, hospital appointments, and starting over \u2013 we have been ordered to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u201cforced relocation will only deepen our children\u2019s psychological pain\u201d, they said. <\/p>\n

A statement from the IRC said the medical team at Children\u2019s Health Ireland<\/a> had determined, following careful medical assessment, that the six families were in a \u201cstable medical situation\u201d and could safely transfer their care to a regional health centre \u201cin line with the Gaza medevac medical treatment plan\u201d. <\/p>\n

The families of children who require ongoing specialist treatment will remain in Dublin, it said. <\/p>\n

Volunteers working with the women have recommended they be moved to a housing unit in Kilkenny which has been assessed by the IRC. It is understood, however, that housing is not available until October. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are single mothers without the support of husbands or extended family, which makes moving to a distant location for more difficult and distressing,\u201d the mothers said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Israel has \u2018no choice\u2019 but to attack Gaza City, says Netanyahu, as hostage families call strikeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A separate letter sent to TDs and local councillors by volunteers working with the women said building a local South Dublin support network since the group\u2019s arrival had required \u201cenergy, resources and trust building\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese families are dealing with prolonged grief, ongoing trauma, anxiety and depression having lost children, spouses and extended violence in Gaza,\u201d the volunteers wrote. \u201cThe evacuees\u2019 psychological security has been greatly impacted upon hearing of another forced relocation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those transferring to Letterkenny will have \u201cfull access to appropriate local medical and mental health services\u201d and the IRC will arrange private transport for any specialist appointments in Dublin, according to the statement. <\/p>\n

The families will move into own-door accommodation on a secure campus where they can \u201cstay together, feel part of a community, and have easy access to essential services\u201d, it said. <\/p>\n

The IRC has engaged with the local Letterkenny integration team, community groups, schools and creche providers and Arabic-speaking caseworkers will provide \u201cdedicated, wraparound support\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mothers of eight seriously ill Palestinian children have said they will not leave their Dublin accommodation on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[9041,17884,102,2960,32862,32863,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-61021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-children-s-health-ireland-chi","tag-gaza-strip","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-irish-red-cross","tag-letterkenny","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}