‘If there’s anything we can do I’d be delighted’ – a florist offers to help a Ukrainian family start a new life in Sligo

A florist has offered to fly a Ukrainian family to Ireland and give them a home and a job.

Icheál Feehily of Feehily Florists in Carraroe, Co Sligo first made the offer on March 16 in a video on his Facebook page.

He has offered to give a job to a Ukrainian person with experience in the florist industry and help her family escape the war-torn country.

In the video, Mr Feehily held up signs that read: “If you are a florist living in Ukraine and looking to start a new life in Ireland I would be happy to help you.

“I’ll pay for flights and expenses for you and your family, help you find an apartment and give you a job as long as you want.

“We want to welcome you to Sligo and give you and your family a better life. We cannot help everyone, but we would like to help one family. Greetings to all of you.”

Mr Feehily said he would be happy to help a family.

“I was kind of overwhelmed by everything that was going on watching news shows,” he added.

“If there’s anything we can do for someone, I’m happy to help. It’s just such a tragic situation.

“I spoke to my wife and we donated to the Irish Red Cross but I just felt so helpless and thought if it were the other way around and if that happened to us I would just be so grateful if someone did something has done.”

He said he spoke to a number of people online and helped other professionals in Ukraine connect with Irish companies.

He also received offers of accommodation from other Sligo families who were willing to help.

“Although I’d like to do more, I just said see if we can help a family and as a result we’ve placed other people in other companies,” he said.

“There was a woman who is a web developer and we were able to pass her information on to a couple of web development companies, so hopefully more will come out of it than just what it is.

“If I can bring a family and they will be happy to work for me five years they are welcome and if they find something better in three months I can shake their hand and say thank you.”

Mr Feehily said he had a ‘very positive’ Call a Ukrainian woman with Experience in the flower industry who is trying to leave Ukraine with her mother and two-year-old child.

“An Irishman named Ciaran Murphy lives in Ukraine and helps Ukrainian families come to Ireland,” he said.

“He saw my post and Call a florist who has a child, a husband who will stay in Ukraine and a mother who also wants to travel.

“She is still in Ukraine. I feel We help someone more than just give them a job, so the fact that she’s still in Ukraine and wants to go is what we want to do for me.

“Even beyond that I have a huge network in the florist industry so you never know we might be able to put you in touch with other florists. We really want to help someone.

“I’m kind of embarrassed about the whole thing, in the sense that if something were that simple can do so much for a family going through such a difficult time, I am only too pleased to be able to do so.

“The lady speaks bad English, so one of the guys who work with me here He is from Latvia and speaks Russian and she speaks Russian, so he joined the call.”