Colm and the Ukrainian dog story to feature on Nationwide

Mullingar man Colm Smullen of Smullen Couriers will feature on RTÉ’s Nationwide on Monday next, July 11.

Reporter Mary Fanning visited Smullen Couriers near Mullingar to film a report of the reunion of two Ukrainian ladies, their daughters and their two dogs rescued by Colm when he was on a humanitarian trip to Przemysl on the Polish border.

The centre hosts and looks after Ukrainian refugees and it was there that Colm, his son, Dara, and fellow Irishman, Joby Redmond, met Oksana and her daughter, Ksenia, Olga and her daughter, Natalie.

Mary hears the story of how the Irish duo got the families on a flight to Ireland but the women were distraught as their dogs, Dina and Cica were not allowed on the plane.

“I told the girls I would get the dogs to Ireland and myself and my son set out on a two and half thousand-kilometre journey across Europe and got the dogs to Cork,” says Colm.

The woman and the dogs were re united and now live in Westport but they came back to Colm’s business premises in Mullingar to have lunch and to thank him for his generosity.

“Colm is a great man and we are so happy to have our dogs in Ireland with us,” says Oksana, who told Nationwide that when the war is over, she will invite Colm to her village and show her what she hopes will be her ‘peaceful country’ in better times.

Mary hears about the journey that Colm took across Europe and it was fraught with problems. “This is a lovely happy story, a chink of light in a dark time, an ordinary man who is giving up his time to help because of his sense of duty,” says Mary.

“It was fantastic to see the two families and their beloved dogs arrive in Mullingar and the dogs are just so cute and it means so much to the women.“

The Nationwide report also speaks to Natalie Glennon, a Ukrainian women living in Ireland for 20 years and helping Colm with his humanitarian work.

The programme airs on July 11 at 7pm on RTÉ one and will be repeated on RTÉ+1.