The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell met a group of Kosovar refugees on 9 May to discuss a number of questions they had raised regarding their position in Ireland. She has also been in touch with them subsequently on a number of points made at that meeting.
She informed them that the UN High Commission for Refugees has indicated formally to host countries that it was now safe for the vast majority of Kosovar refugees in asylum countries to return home. At the same time, the UNHCR has called for a co-ordinated and phased return of refugees to Kosovo. I might note that since the Minister of State's meeting with the refugees, the UNHCR has in recent days come out in favour of phased return over a number of years, because the situation there remains extremely precarious, with pressures on all services and few real possibilities for employment at the current time. This is naturally something to which we would wish to have regard in further consideration of the future of what has been to date a very successful programme.