Why the islanders of Arranmore have become so smitten with one young Ukrainian toddler that they call him their ‘Little Star’ – and it’s not JUST because he speaks fluent Irish
A baby boy born to Ukrainian refugee parents on the remote Donegal island of Arranmore has become known locally as a "little star," marking the island's first birth in more than 30 years. The story of the Karpenko family, who fled Ukraine in 2022 and settled among the dozens of Ukrainians who found refuge on Ireland's Atlantic islands, features in a new TG4 documentary series highlighting how displaced families have integrated into small, tight-knit island communities.
Father Oleksandr "Alex" Karpenko and his wife Vladyslava were permitted to leave Ukraine with their four children because they had a large family, and moved to an island whose summer population of around 500 is smaller than their old apartment block in Ukraine. Their son Marvin was born at home in 2023, becoming the first baby born on Arranmore in three decades, while his older siblings have picked up fluent, Donegal-accented Irish, which their translator and family friend Sasha Halytska says they now speak "even better than English."
- Ukrainian refugee family's baby is Arranmore's first birth in 30+ years
- Family's children have become fluent, Donegal-accented Irish speakers
- Their story features in a new TG4 documentary series on refugee integration
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Ukrainian families are among the thousands of refugees who have settled across Ireland since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, with some finding homes on remote offshore islands rather than in cities. Arranmore, off the coast of County Donegal, is one such island, and its close-knit, Irish-speaking community has taken in a number of Ukrainian arrivals in recent years.
One of those families is the Karpenkos, who left Ukraine with their four children and settled on the island, where the population is only a few hundred people. Their integration into island life, including their children learning Irish, has been documented by TG4, Ireland's Irish-language broadcaster, as part of a series looking at how displaced families have adapted to small island communities.
The story matters because it touches on wider questions about how refugee resettlement works in practice, particularly in rural and remote areas facing population decline, and how newcomers and long-standing communities adjust to one another.