By Michelle Crean

Mayor of Killarney Niall Kelleher, said that the reversal in the decision to move the Ukrainians is "a relief" for all involved.

"It's very much a relief for the people that are here that are going to be staying in Killarney and very very welcome, so I am thankful to the Minister for reversing the decision and I'm also thankful to all of the people who have got on board with the challenges that we have over the last couple of days in highlighting the issue, all of the political representatives our own Minister Norma Foley and Deputy Brendan Griffin. I've been in contact with both and other TDs and Senators around the country who helped me in highlighting it at the highest level up in the Taoiseach's office."

In relation to accommodation around the town for the re-homing the Ukrainians, he said it's going to be challenging.

"There will be people moved to other accommodation so there's going to be challenges, let's not be kidding ourselves," he added.

"There's a lot of challenges with the amount of refugees that we have in Killarney. We welcome them but we need to provide services and [I've put] a request to go back to Government. It has been made several times, we have accommodation but we don't have all of the services, so that is something we have to work on and now obviously 500 extra international protection applicants arriving in town, that will present its own challenges of which we need to address and it'll be important that the asylum process is resourced for the amount of applicants that are arriving in the country. That will be exceptionally important and I'll be highlighting that to the Minister. There's a lot more challenges to be faced as a community as we go forward."