A generous Dublin man offered to take in a Ukrainian family that was forced to flee their homeland, after he heard their heartbreaking story on RTE radio.
Speaking on RTE Liveline on Thursday, Mike from Rathfarnham said that he made a pledge to the Irish Red Cross to offer accommodation to a Ukrainian family.
However, it has now been over a month since he was last contacted by the Irish Red Cross.
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Mike explained to Joe Duffy: "The lady who rang me from The Irish Red Cross said they would contact me in two weeks about my pledge, but it's been four or five weeks ago now and I've not heard anything back. I know there's been 29,000 Ukrainians come to Ireland and they must be stretched to the limit.
"But to me it is an absolute privilege to host a family from Ukraine in the current situation they find themselves in. I don't regard it as a burden or anything like that, I was widowed at the end of 2020. My late wife and I tried to host a family from Syria which didn't work out for us at the time.
"It's up to us to reach out to the people of Ukraine and lend a helping hand and it's disappointing that the vast majority of those pledged have been withdrawn."
Ukrainian national Andrii Madazadi, who rang Joe Duffy, was a psychologist in his home country and he was visiting relatives in the US when the Russians invaded.
Andrii and his family came to Dublin and his children attended school. The family were settling in well and Andrii was also offered a new job.
But then, the family was suddenly moved to Youghal in Cork.
He explained: "Our children went to school in Castleknock and I had a job interview and they offered me a job with Dublin Simon Community. We would love to come back to Dublin."
Mike said that he would be delighted to help Andrii and his family.
He said: "I'd be quite happy to take in Andrii and his wife and kids. We're helping out our fellow Europeans citizens in their time of need, these people have been uprooted from their homes overnight."
Other listeners also phoned in to say they had not heard back from the Irish Red Cross concerning their pledges to take in Ukrainian refugees.
One caller, Gwen Layden, praised the "amazing" spirit of the Ukrainian people after she offered a unit in George's Street Arcade as a gift to an Ukrainian entrepreneur.
She confirmed that one Ukrainian entrepreneur Anna is set to open in the arcade tomorrow.
Another caller, Dennis, who is retired, contacted the Red Cross on 8 March for a pledge online. He said he runs a B&B is still pledging to take two or three Ukrainians but that the Red Cross hasn't contacted them back.
"We want to help these people, we'd be very grateful. I don't understand what the delay is."
Dublin Live has contacted the Irish Red Cross for comment.
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