Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 March 2018
322. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the local authorities that have and have not active migrant integration strategies in place, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12190/18]
View answerI have no responsibility in relation to the actions of Local Authorities. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have sought the relevant information from the Local Government Management Agency. A recent survey was undertaken of the 31 Local Authorities week beginning 12 March 2018, all 31 responded. Ten Local Authorities have confirmed that they have a migrant integration strategy.
These are:
Carlow County Council
Dublin City Council
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
Galway County Council
Kerry County Council
Kildare County Council
Kilkenny County Council
Limerick City and County Council
Mayo County Council
South Dublin County Council.
21 Local Authorities have stated they do not have a migrant integration strategy, in addition Local Authorities are addressing migrant integration and wider social inclusion through their Local Economic and Community Plans (LECP).
The development of Local Authority integration strategies will be undertaken within the framework of the National Strategy. Action 52 of the Migrant Integration Strategy - A Blueprint for the future, which was published on 7 February 2017, provides for the updating of integration strategies by local authorities over the lifetime of the Strategy i.e. from 2017 to 2020. A Monitoring and Co-ordination Committee has been established to support the process of implementing the Migrant Integration Strategy. The Committee, which comprises representatives of relevant Government Departments, State Agencies and the NGO sector, met for the third time in January 2018 and are due to meet again in May 2018. Progress on the implementation of the actions in the Strategy will be reviewed at the end of 2018 and a report prepared for Government.
