John Halligan
Ceist:144. Deputy John Halligan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of refugees Ireland is planning to take in here considering in 2015 it was only a very small number. [30959/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 18 October 2016
Ceisteanna (144)
Freagraí scríofa
The Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) was established by Government Decision on 10 September 2015 as a direct response to the humanitarian crisis that developed in Southern Europe as a consequence of mass migration from areas of conflict in the Middle East and Africa. Under this programme, the Government has pledged to accept a total of 4,000 persons into the State by the end of 2017, through a combination of the EU relocation mechanism established by two EU Council Decisions in 2015 to assist Italy and Greece, and the UNHCR-led refugee resettlement programme currently focused on resettling refugees from camps in Lebanon.
In terms of the resettlement of programme refugees, in 13 May 2015 the European Commission published an EU Agenda for Migration. Among the measures proposed was the establishment of an EU-wide resettlement scheme to offer 20,000 resettlement places across the EU with each Member State's allocations calculated according to a distribution key. Ireland's allocation under this mechanism was 272 persons displaced by the Syrian conflict to be resettled in Ireland over a two year period up to mid 2017. Taking account of the situation in the Middle East, and the plight of the refugees, the Tánaiste announced that Ireland would go further and would accept 520 persons for resettlement over an 18 month period - up to the end of 2016. This was almost double the figure proposed by the Commission. This cohort form part of the commitment made by Ireland under the IRPP. As of today, 500 persons displaced by the Syrian conflict have arrived in Ireland and a further seven are scheduled to arrive on 8 November. The remainder of the quota of 520 will be taken in by the end of 2016, ahead of the schedule set out by the Commission.
In addition, the Government recently announced that it is extending the resettlement programme to take in a further 260 refugees from Lebanon in 2017. Hence, at least 780 of the 4,000 that Ireland has agreed to accept under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme will come purely from the refugee cohort. The possibility of an additional refugee pledge in 2017 is under active consideration. Other mechanisms to fill the gap are also under review and will be contingent on further developments at EU level.
Under the EU relocation strand of the IRPP, it is well documented that the pace of arrivals to date has been slower than expected. The Government is wholly committed to ensuring that Ireland meets its obligations under the EU Relocation mechanism in a timely fashion. Following a highly productive visit by Irish officials to Greece earlier this year, the frequency and numbers of arrivals has increased and is continuing to improve. Ireland has provided the Greek authorities with a full timetable for the acceptance, by end September 2017, of the entire cohort of asylum seekers allocated to Ireland under the relevant Council Decisions. Ireland has to-date taken in 69 Syrians from Greece, a further 40 people are scheduled to arrive this month and another 63 people have been assessed and cleared for arrival. Earlier this month IRPP officials interviewed a group of 71 people in Athens who, once cleared for travel, are expected to arrive in November. Further missions are scheduled for November and December and by the end of 2016 it is expected that Ireland will have accepted up to 400 people from Greece through the relocation pledge system. The intention thereafter is to sustain the pace of intakes throughout 2017 at the levels required to allow Ireland to meets its commitments within the time frame envisaged by the Programme.
The relocation of migrants from Italy to Ireland has been hampered by technical issues which were the subject of discussion with the Italian delegation in the margins of last month's Prague Process conference on migration in Bratislava. Officials are now working through these issues with colleagues in Brussels and I hope that the matter can be resolved in the near future which will allow the numbers being taken in under the IRPP to increase further.