Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:52. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if persons (details supplied) will be allowed to resettle here. [5693/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 6 February 2018
Ceisteanna (52)
Freagraí ó Béal (8 píosaí cainte)
This question is really a plea on behalf of a very vulnerable Palestinian family for compassion and generosity on the part of the Minister and the Government. The Barud family have been acknowledged as UN refugees. They are stranded in Turkey. Four of the children are disabled and the family has nowhere to go, even though they have been acknowledged as refugees. I have talked to the Minister about this and I appreciate the conversations we have had. I hope we will be able to take this family in. We have not accepted our quota of UN refugees, so I see no reason-----
The Deputy will have a minute to respond to the Minister's reply.
-----why we could not do so.
Deputy Boyd Barrett is asking whether Ireland can resettle a family now in Turkey who are United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, programme refugees and that some of the family members have disabilities. As I responded in recent correspondence to the Deputy, while Ireland participates in a resettlement programme led by the UNHCR, it is the latter that assesses each case and makes a referral to a participating state. Ireland has received no such referral from the UNHCR. It is highly unlikely Ireland would receive such a referral because it does not have a resettlement programme in Turkey.
As Deputy Boyd Barrett will be aware, Ireland has an active resettlement programme in Lebanon under the Irish refugee protection programme, IRPP. Ireland has doubled its commitment in respect of refugees currently in Lebanon and is accepting 1,040 programme refugees under that strand of the IRPP. Of these refugees, 792 are already in Ireland and the remaining individuals are due to arrive in the coming months. I have pledged to take a further 945 refugees from Lebanon between this year and next year. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and I also recently announced a new family humanitarian admission programme, which provides for 530 immediate family members of refugees from established conflict zones to come to Ireland over a two-year period.
All programme refugees in Lebanon are selected by the UNHCR on the basis of vulnerability, including persons with various health conditions. Staff of the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration who are responsible for the IRPP then undertake comprehensive resettlement missions in Lebanon. The selection of resettlement applicants requires detailed consideration of files received from the UNHCR as well as personal interviews, orientation and security assessments in Lebanon.
There are established and successful pathways for resettlement in this country. While I appreciate the vulnerability of the family that is the subject of the Deputy's request, I must point out, as I have done in correspondence, that it is extremely difficult for Ireland to engage in any form of resettlement in response to once-off requests. This would potentially disadvantage other refugees who have fulfilled objective criteria to qualify for the refugee programme.
I appreciate the Minister's response and I appreciate we are taking other refugees from Lebanon, but this is a particular case. This is a family of seven in which four of the children have very significant disabilities. They had previously lived in Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia expelled them because of its "no Palestinian refugees" policy, which is not a very nice policy. They were subsequently expelled, despite their pleas, from Egypt after two of the children had completed their education but Egypt was not willing to take them either. They are now stranded in Turkey, where they are suffering very significant physical health deterioration and very severe muscle spasms because they are not getting the physiotherapy they need.
They have written to the Minister and they have contacted the UNHCR. They are making a special plea that they be accepted here. I know, notwithstanding what the Minister said, that Ireland has not filled its full quota of refugees. It seems to me that in the case of this particularly vulnerable family, we could intervene and indicate to the UNHCR that we would be willing to take them.
I have been looking at that particular case and I have the details referred to by the Deputy. In this case, the Palestinian family previously lived in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They are unwilling to return to Gaza as the medical needs of the children cannot be met there. The only way a UNHCR refugee can be admitted to Ireland is through its formal resettlement programme. I do not believe individual appeals outside that process can be favourably considered, but there are established mechanisms for the resettlement of refugees, including those with health issues. There are many refugees around the world in similar circumstances.
I want to advert to the formal UNHCR resettlement programme from Lebanon, which allows for the intake of refugees using objective criteria not based on any favouritism or subjective consideration. The only routes through which this family may be considered would be through UNHCR resettlement, which is from Lebanon, or perhaps through the new family reunification humanitarian admission programme, FRHAP, to which I referred, in the event of their having eligible family members in Ireland.
I do not have an immediate favourable response for the Deputy, and if there is any way we could have a look at the situation in Lebanon, that may well be a positive avenue. I regret it is not possible for me to intervene under the current circumstances.
Will the Minister elaborate slightly? Is he suggesting that if they apply through Lebanon and could make their way to Lebanon that might be possibility? Perhaps he could indicate. Will the Minister explain whether there is a particular reason, given that we have a diplomatic presence in Turkey, that we could not also take programme refugees from Turkey? Will the Minister confirm that we have not filled our quota, so there is space in the quota commitments we have made. Could we not engineer something for this family? Given that our quota is not filled, it is not as if the family, which is in very particular and urgent need, would be taking the place of somebody else but rather filling a space that has not been filled.
I believe the manner in which this issue was framed is based on whether a particular family might be included in the resettlement process. Resettlement is conducted on the basis of objective criteria that have been set down by the UNHCR. This process is conducted by the UNHCR. It is a structured and demanding process and there are multiple partner organisations. Our process is by means of engagement with Lebanon and I do not believe we can depart from the structured process. I do not believe it is feasible for us to conduct a bespoke selection mission in response to an individual family. The family should remain in close contact with the UNHCR; it is the only means by which this issue can be satisfactorily resolved. It is not one we can do by way of any positive initiative from this end.