Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 February 2017
28. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will consider the introduction of a humanitarian admission programme to allow Irish residents, naturalised citizens and refugees to apply for family reunification for extended family members in conflict zones. [7631/17]
View answerBefore the migrant crisis escalated, my predecessor introduced a Syrian Humanitarian Admissions Programme (SHAP) subject to certain conditions, including economic dependency, being met. This was superseded by the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) which allows for Syrians and other nationalities to benefit from resettlement and relocation schemes, and offers them protection in Ireland in their own right. This is a much improved programme allowing thousands to benefit from protection here. There has been a significant challenge at EU level to maximise the functioning of the resettlement and relocation programmes. We will be 100% ahead of target on resettlement when the programme ends next September and following my recent visit to Greece, I am satisfied that the number coming in under relocation will ramp up to agreed levels in 2017.
I am not of the view that the best solution to this crisis is to increase the number of programmes and all the administrative and legal complexities that go with them. My emphasis is to increase the number of people arriving in Ireland under the programmes currently in place. I am satisfied that we are making that progress now and that there is still capacity to ensure more Syrians can come to Ireland under our resettlement and relocation programmes and all our focus needs to be on meeting these targets. In addition, existing avenues remain open as pathways for family reunification.
Significant resources are currently being invested in these humanitarian efforts through the offices of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, the Office of the Promotion of Migrant Integration and the International Protection Office. As a result we have established and functioning mechanisms and associated expertise to deal with resettlement and relocation. Our response to the migrant crisis in terms of accepting refugees is through the IRPP and all available resources are being directed to that Programme in order to meet the commitment entered into and I have no plans, at this point, to introduce any additional admission programmes. It is essential that we continue all our efforts to completing the IRPP successfully before we can look to apply that learning and resources to any new programme.
