7,000+ Ukrainian refugees now based in Donegal 

There are now in excess of 7,000 Ukrainian refugees being housed in Donegal at present, according to the latest figures available from the Central Statistics Office - an increase of 2,217 since December of last year.  

Over 1,500 are now either enrolled at primary or secondary schools within the county. 

The total number of Ukrainians here now accounts for about 7% of the total of Ukrainian refugees in the country at present, under what is known as the Temporary Protection Directive.

This compared to 5,928 Donegal Ukrainian citizens being located here at the beginning of June 2023 from last December’s figure standing at 4,780. 

For the academic year 2023/2024, there are 902 Ukrainian students enrolled in the primary education system with a further 627 students enrolled in Donegal’s secondary schools, a combined total of 1,529 students. 

The total Donegal figure of Ukrainian refugees as of October 9, now stands at 7,006. 

And of the county’s seven electoral areas (EAs), the Donegal EA is currently hosting the highest number of Ukrainians, with 2,052 men, women and children.

This is followed by the Glenties EA (1,386), Letterkenny EA (1,265), Milford EA (801), Carndonagh EA (733), Lifford-Stranorlar EA (407) and Buncrana EA (362). 

It should be noted that while there are seven EAs in the county, there are just five Municipal Districts (MDs) with Buncrana EA and Carndonagh EA forming the Inishowen MD, and Letterkenny EA and Milford EA forming the combined Letterkenny-Milford MD.

The other three EAs are also their respective MDs.

If that is taken on board, it would mean that the combined number of both the Letterkenny and Milford EAs, that is the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District, would therefore have the highest number of Urainians in the county, nudging past the Donegal MD by a total of 14.   

The 7,006 Ukrainian arrivals would also account for approximately 4% of the population here in this county, if calculated as a percentage of the county’s population on last year’s 2022 census - currently 167,084 -  although by its very nature, that cannot be totally accurate. 

Nationally, women and men, aged 20 and over, made up 46% and 22% respectively of arrivals to date, while 32% were people aged under 20. 

Of all arrivals to date aged 18 and over, 62% of males and 47% of females were married or cohabiting.

According to the CSO, the current location of the refugees is based on PPSN allocations and associated local post offices and, if available, the residential address from accommodation recognition payments from 26 September 2022 onwards.