Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 January 2016
111. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of refugees Ireland has accepted to date as part of its commitment to take 4,000 refugees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3413/16]
View answerI assume the Deputy is referring to the Government's decision to establish the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) on 10 September 2015 as a direct response to the EU migrant crisis. Ireland has agreed to accept 4,000 persons in total under resettlement and relocation programmes by the end of 2017. The figure of 4,000 includes approximately 2,600 asylum seekers to be taken in from migration hotspots in Italy and Greece under the new EU programme and 520 programme refugees from Lebanon and Jordan, which the Irish Government has committed to taking in by the end of 2016 under Ireland's Refugee Resettlement programme. The mechanism by which the balance of the 4,000 will be taken in, has yet to be decided by Government.
In relation to the Resettlement Programme, 176 programme refugees were brought into the State from camps in Jordan and Lebanon in 2015. Over half of those brought in last year have already completed language training and orientation and have been resettled within the wider community. A further 100 refugees are expected to have arrived in the State by the end of February this year. Additional numbers are expected to arrive over the course of 2016.
In relation to the EU relocation programme, 10 people have been taken in by the State to date thus far. This was a single Syrian family who were relocated from Greece last week. I also understand that in the past number of weeks Italy submitted a number of potential cases for relocation to Ireland and these are currently being evaluated by officials in my Department. The small number of relocations effected to-date reflects the fact that the EU relocation programme has been slow in gathering momentum due to resource issues at migration 'hotspots' in Greece and Italy and the programme's low rate of uptake among those arriving in the EU via Italy and Greece. The latest reports I have available to me indicate that these hotspots in both countries are becoming more operational as additional resources are allocated. Accordingly, numbers are expected to increase steadily over coming months but realistically it may be some time before substantial numbers arrive in Ireland under relocation measures.
