“We are fellow Europeans and we are keen to help” was the message conveyed by Association President, Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon at a meeting with the Ukrainian Ambassador, Ms Larysa Gerasko.
Cllr O’Hanlon recalled how he had met Ukrainian local government delegates in Strasbourg last autumn while attending a Council of Europe meeting and had been moved by their first-hand accounts of the impact that the war was having on their local communities.
Prompted by this experience he set about ways of identifying where the Irish Local Government sector could assist their Ukrainian counterparts in the rebuilding of the country both in terms of its infrastructure but also in regard to its governance systems.
Such proposals were discussed with the Ukrainian Ambassador who declared her appreciation of the Irish response to the crisis in her home country. Cllr O’Hanlon said his regard for the Ukrainian character was informed by his interaction with the Ukrainian community in Limerick where he is Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District.
