I should like permission to share my time with Deputy Owen.
Bosnian Refugees' Relatives.
I take it that is agreeable. Agreed.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Bosnia have been forced to flee their country by the appalling bloodshed there. To date this State has allowed approximately 170 Bosnians to reside here on a temporary residential arrangement. Those who are here are anxious that relatives, still in Bosnia, or in refugee centres in various parts of Europe, be permitted to join them in Ireland. Permission should be extended by the Government to these relatives to come here without further delay.
The atrocities taking place on a daily basis in Bosnia, nightly depicted on our television screens, pose a moral obligation on this State to do more to assist those fleeing that country than we have done to date. The number of Bosnian refugees admitted to Ireland is extremely small compared with the numbers been admitted to other member states of the European Community. Other States adjoining that tragic country have been invaded by tens of thousands refugees. There would be widespread public support in Ireland for the Government doing a good deal more than it has done. As well as agreeing to relations of those currently here to be admitted, we could admit some more refugees. As a minimum, I propose that we agree to receive here another 500 refugees from Bosnia.
The Government should also issue a clear statement of policy with regard to the future here of all of those who come from Bosnia. I have no doubt but that they all hope that normality will return to their country so that, at some time in the future, it would be possible for them to re-establish a normal life there. Many of them think that, in the short to medium term, there is little prospect of their being able to return home to live in safety. Those who wish to remain here permanently should be granted political asylum in this State, as should their relatives, and should not be regarded as mere temporary residents. Those who wish for political asylum here are entitled to the security of knowing that, if they wish to remain here permanently and want their children to continue to be educated in Ireland, they will be permitted to do so without difficulty.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs should make a public commitment to allow the relatives of the Bosnians currently here to come to Ireland and to agree to the admittance to this country of a larger number of refugees than we have accepted so far.
The Minister for Justice, who has refused to state publicly how many have sought political asylum and whether asylum will be granted, should now clearly state the position. Under the United Nations Convention on the Protection of Refugees they are entitled as a legal right to such asylum and the Government's silence and prevarication on this issue is little short of disgraceful.
In the context of what is happening today in Bosnia, the time has come for us to do more to help the innocent victims of this appalling conflict.
I join my colleague Deputy Shatter in appealing to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to have a generous and open policy of allowing the relatives of Bosnian refugees in this country to come here. We cannot continue to rest on our laurels of so many years ago when we gave refuge to Hungarians after the revolution and to approximately 400 people from Vietnam. Every time this issue is raised we are told how good we were a number of years ago.
Last year the Irish people recognised the need to take our share of refugees from the former Yugoslavia. People believed that we should have taken more than we did, which was approximately 170. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs now has the opportunity to allow relatives of the refugees to live here. It is distressing to read reports in the newspaper that parents and grandparents do not know where their children are, one man spoke about not knowing where his 16 year old daughter is. I appeal to Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs not only to allow the relatives to come here but to assist in whatever way he can to locate them and help them to make their way to Ireland. That indeed would be a generous gesture.
A number of refugees from the former Yugoslavia have found their way to this country in other ways. I ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to liaise with the Minister for Justice to ensure that those people do not live in fear and dread of someone knocking on their door, being stopped by a policeman and told they should not be in this country and escorted to the airport. I hope an open and generous view will be taken of the applications, particularly in view of the commitment that the Government appeared to give last week when it refused to accept the Refugee Protection Bill. I hope this will be the first opportunity the Government has to show its bona fides on this issue.
I share the concern expressed by the Deputies, as I am sure do all Members of the House, at the appalling level of suffering being inflicted on the civilian population in the continuing conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
It is estimated that up to 100,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 1991 and it has given rise to a refugee crisis of proportions not seen in Europe since the Second World War.
There are now over 3.8 million refugees and displaced persons within the borders of the former Yugoslavia, over 2.3 million of them in Bosnia. In addition, some 700,000 people have found refuge from the conflict in other European countries. Ireland has been playing its part in addressing this humanitarian crisis. Since July of last year, the Government has allocated a total of £610,000 from the emergency humanitarian assistance fund towards the provision of urgently needed humanitarian aid to refugees and communities living under siege. The bulk of this money has been allocated to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as the lead agency co-ordinating the international relief operation in the former Yugoslavia.
The Government recognises that we also have an obligation to play our part in addressing the enormous refugee problem caused the the conflict. The main burden in tackling the refugee problem has fallen on the newly independent States of Croatia and Slovenia and on neighbouring states, such as Austria and Hungary. All EC members states have agreed to accept a certain number of refugees. Germany, for instance, has given temporary protection to some 250,000.
The Government agreed in July 1992 to admit up to 200 refugees from the former Yugoslavia. A group of 178, from refugee camps in Vienna, arrived in Ireland on 2 September and were accommodated for an initial period at the Cherry Orchard reception centre. They have all now been found private rented accommodation in the Dublin area. While they remain extremely anxious about the situation in their homeland and the safety of members of their families who are still in Bosnia, they have by and large settled in well in Ireland. The Refugee Agency has been co-ordinating arrangements for their accommodation and language-training and is currently working to ensure that they are integrated in the community during their stay in Ireland.
The Government and its partners in the European Community are firmly of the view that the right of all refugees from the former Yugoslavia to return to their homes eventually must be maintained. The refugees themselves are adamant that they wish to return home as soon as this is possible. In common with the Governments of other EC member states, the Irish Government has, therefore, agreed to grant them temporary protection status with all the rights to employment and social welfare benefits that are normally accorded to refugees. There will be no question of any of the refugees having to leave Ireland unless or until they wish to.
I am aware of the extreme anxiety on the part of many of the refugees in Ireland to be reunited with members of their families. Some progress has already been made in this area, with the issuing of visas in December last to enable 22 immediate family members to travel to Ireland. So far, 11 of these relatives have arrived in the country. The remaining 11, all of whom are in Bosnia, are being traced with the assistance of the UNHCR and the International Organisation of Migration.
I recognise that it is implicit in any decision to accept a group of refugees that provision should at a later stage be made to enable certain close relatives to join them. The anxieties being experienced by this group of refugees increase the urgency which should be attached to the question of family reunification.
I have been examining what further assistance Ireland might give in terms of accepting additional refugees from the former Yugoslavia. Two hundred visas have now been issued on the basis of last year's Government decision and a new decision will be required if further refugees are to be admitted, including relatives of those already in the country. The possibilities and costs have been fully examined. I have prepared a submission for Government to enable us to admit a further group of refugees and to give priority to close relatives of those already here.
A decision to admit a further group is only the first step in a difficult process. Many of the relatives for whom requests for admission have been received are currently living in areas of conflict in Bosnia. They will have to be traced and arrangements made for their transport from Bosnia with the assistance of the UNHCR. This process has in the past taken considerable time, despite the best efforts of all involved, in the most difficult and dangerous of conditions.
I would like to assure the House that, in spite of Ireland's relatively limited capacity to absorb large numbers of refugees, the Government is convinced that we have an obligation to make our contribution to alleviating the suffering that has resulted from the terrible conflict in the former Yugoslavia. I would also like to assure those refugees who have come to Ireland in the past year that I will continue to work to ensure that as many as possible of their close relatives can come to join them in Ireland.