Laois meeting scheduled about Ukrainian Electric Picnic refugee camp

Laois public representatives are to be briefed for the first time in the coming days on the plan hatched to move 750 Ukrainian war refugees into Electric Picnic tents.

While some details and documents have been circulated locally with an outline of the plan to set up a refugee camp in Stradbally, the process has been decided and planned with little local input.

The project appears to have been agreed upon between the operators of the Electric Picnic, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The Picnic is staged on land owned by the Cosby family. It is not known what their input has been.

The Leinster Express / Laois live understands that the meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 4 at Laois County Council HQ in Portlaoise.

The behind-closed-doors meeting will allow some questions of Department officials as to how it is to work and what local services will be required in the town of 1,400.

The Department has no press statement on the plan on its website and has not circulated any to the Leinster Express / Laois Live. The Electric Picnic has also yet to issue a statement.

Laois County Council has put in place a Ukrainian Community Response Forum, consisting of statutory and voluntary groups/agencies operating across Co Laois, who meet on a regular basis.

The Council says this Forum "ensures consistency and efficiency in service delivery and supports" to new arrivals to from Ukraine. It is not clear what the Forum knew about the Picnic.

The United Nations refugee agency - the UNHCR provides a definition for a refugee camp.

"Refugee camps are temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence. While camps are not established to provide permanent solutions, they offer a safe haven for refugees and meet their most basic needs such as food, water, shelter, medical treatment and other basic services during emergencies," it said.