Online campaign pledges more than 6,000 Irish beds to refugees
An online campaign to offer support to refugees caught up in the current crisis has collected 6,090 bed pledges from all over Ireland in the last two days.
Volunteer group Uplift.ie began a campaign on Wednesday shortly before images of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi were publicised, showing him drowned on a beach in Turkey.
“The platform was already there when the pictures came out to provide a voice to people (shocked by the images),” said Uplift director Siobhan O’Donoghue.
Pledges have been received from all over the country, with 28 of the 32 counties represented up to 5pm yesterday.
Siobhan said they had been delighted with the response to the campaign, in which supporters can click to pledge a bed to a refugee as a gesture of solidarity. The pledges are not concrete commitments to provide lodging, but Siobhan said it may have the potential to deveop into that.
“If ever that came to fruition, it would need to be administered properly which is probably a role for the State,” she said.
“The campaign proves the willingness to help is there - it’s showing our Government that.”
Uplift was set up nine months ago to give a voice to people who want action on a range of issues.It has 30,000 members.
