Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020
56. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration the status of progress to fulfil his plans to expand capacity care for unaccompanied refugee children here; the timeline of same; his plans to accept more children from the Moria refugee camp; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30630/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am extremely concerned with the plight of the refugees in Moria following the fires there, especially young people who are without parents or family in the camp.
I wish to advise you that Ireland supports the ongoing EU efforts to relocate unaccompanied minors from the former camp at Moria. I can confirm that Officials in my Department are presently engaged with the Department of Justice and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency on the matter.
Ireland remains committed to accepting 36 unaccompanied minors and has to date received 8 teenage boys. The young people arrived safely and are settling in well with their new lives. The transfer of this group had been delayed by the COVID-19 public health crisis, and took place in June. Tusla is presently working to progress the transfer of four additional young people from Greece and they are also working with An Garda Síochána on the Greek island to identify unaccompanied minors who wish to come to Ireland.
Due to the level of need among refugees since the destruction of the Moria camp, I am seeking to expand Ireland’s capacity to care for unaccompanied children and to accelerate their arrival here. In the Budget allocations last week I secured additional funding to support this aim.
Tusla was allocated an additional €61M in Budget 2021. A portion of these additional resources will support Tusla to meet our commitments to transfer additional unaccompanied minors in Greece to Ireland as quickly as possible. I am confident that we will be in a position to fully achieve our existing commitment and the additional resources provided in Budget 2021 will make sure such transfers can take place on a consistent and sustainable basis.
Tusla has a dedicated Separated Children Seeking Asylum (SCSA) Team, which has developed expertise through Ireland’s participation in international protection programmes, and through caring for unaccompanied minors who arrive unannounced at Irish ports.
Tusla currently has 59 unaccompanied children in care, all of whom come from various international protection contexts, including specific programmes and separated children seeking asylum. In addition at the end of Q1 2020 96 young people, who had previously been unaccompanied children, were in receipt of an aftercare service from Tusla. Seventy nine were in education or accredited training.
