Ms Sophie Magennis:

I thank the committee for inviting us here today. As the Chairman said, this is a timely meeting, with world refugee day happening last weekend, on 20 June, and with the series of important meetings taking place in Europe this week in regard to decisions to be taken by European leaders on resettlement and relocation. While many of these matters lie in the foreign policy domain, it is important from a domestic viewpoint that decisions on resettlement and relocation taken at the European level may lead to greater numbers of refugees coming to Ireland. This is an important domestic issue here in the context of how they are received. Therefore, we are very grateful to have the opportunity to meet the committee today.

We have circulated a brief background note which contains some statistics and information on resettlement, on what it is, the global needs and on what Ireland has done since the 1950s and more recently in regard to resettlement. The briefing note also contains information about the European context, which is important these days. I may refer to that note as I go through my opening statement, which I will keep brief because the question and answer session is a more interactive way to exchange views.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established in 1950 and its role is to supervise the 1951 refugee convention. The UNHCR was set up in the aftermath of the Second World War and the agency was originally set up with a mandate for five years, to solve the problem of refugees that existed at that time in Europe. Unfortunately, given the scale of global displacement in the intervening decades, the UNHCR is still with us and now has over 9,000 staff working around the world to try to protect people who fall under its remit.

We work primarily to seek solutions for asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons. We identify three solutions open to refugees with which UNHCR can help. First is voluntary repatriation, where refugees can return to their countries where it is safe to do so. Second is local integration, so that refugees can integrate in the country in which they are recognised. For example, refugees who come to Ireland as asylum seeks and are recognised can go on to integrate here. Third is the option we are talking about today, resettlement. This applies to people who fled their country of origin or habitual residence. They are in a third country, cannot integrate locally and cannot go back.

This is where resettlement comes in.

A UNHCR presence In Ireland was established in 1998 and we now have a staff of seven in the Dublin office. In 1998, the Irish Government also established its first annual resettlement programme by way of a Government decision which led to around 40 people a year being able to come in under a quota. Since 1998, as I noted in my opening text, a strong co-operation has developed between the UNHCR, the Department of Justice and Equality, and in particular its office for the promotion of migrant integration.

Overall, since the 1950s, over 5,000 people have been resettled in Ireland. If we take the marker of 1998, when the formal annual resettlement programme was established, then 2,301 refugees have been resettled in Ireland. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Irish authorities for the important supports and integration measures that have been put in place to welcome and assist resettled refugees when they come to Ireland. Later this afternoon, President Higgins will host a garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin for refugees in Ireland and over 400 people will attend. We will be joined by resettled refugees who have come into Ireland since the 1950s, some Hungarians, plus people from Chile and Vietnam and also the most recent resettlement intake of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis. We will also be joined by refugees recognised in Ireland, asylum seekers and stateless persons.

I want to briefly mention the UNHCR Global Trends report. Every year we release a report that contains the core statistics for global displacement and we release it just before World Refugee Day. The figures are staggering because at the end of 2014 nearly 60 million were displaced. Those figures indicate that over 40,000 people every day were displaced in 2014. That shows we are dealing with a crisis on an incredible and staggering scale.

Since early 2011, the war in Syria has become a huge source country for displaced persons. People from Syria now form the largest driver of the figures of displacement. In 2012, High Commissioner António Guterres addressed this committee and the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. On that occasion he said, "We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement, as well as the response required, is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before".

In light of these figures, the UNHCR is undertaking advocacy to see if states can step up their resettlement response. In 2014, resettlement provided a durable solution to more than 73,000 refugees of which 8,579 went to 16 EU member states which represents approximately 12% of global departures. The remainder of the people we settled in that year went to the United States, Australia, Canada and other countries. In the same year around 89 people were resettled in Ireland.

Due to the scale of the needs in 2013 and 2014 we called for additional resettlement places to be made available, particularly for Syrians. We have sought 130,000 places to be made available for Syrians. Some European member states have responded to our call and have made 51,182 places available. However, of that number Germany is taking 30,000 people, which is the largest portion.

Since 2014, Ireland's resettlement programme has focused primarily on the needs that have arisen in response to the conflict in Syria. As I mentioned, 89 refugees that were displaced due to the Syrian conflict were admitted in 2014, with seven others admitted from the Democratic Republic of Congo. For 2015 and 2016, the Irish authorities increased the quota to 100, to be introduced in 2015, and 120, to be introduced in 2016. On 13 May, the Minister for Justice and Equality announced that an additional 300 persons would come in before 2016. I will simplify the figures. From the beginning of 2014 until the end of 2016, Ireland will admit 610 people who have been displaced due to the Syrian conflict which is welcome.

We also welcome the establishment by the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, of the Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme, or SHAP. Under SHAP 114 people have been granted permission to enter Ireland. In short that means that 610 people, under resettlement, will come into Ireland between 2014 to 2016. In addition, some 114 people have been granted permission to enter the State under the admission programme.

I shall now discuss the global picture. We have published the global resettlement needs in our document for 2016. We have estimated that 1,153,296 persons are in need of resettlement but there are only 80,000 places available. The pledges have come from states to the UNHCR and, unfortunately, we do not have an adequate number of places to meet requirements. Therefore, the UNHCR supports the proposal made by the European Commission for an EU-wide pilot project offering 20,000 resettlement places in the European Union, in 2015 and 2016, using a distribution criteria or key that takes into account the efforts already made, on a voluntary basis, by member states. While 20,000 places is still small when we look at global need, none the less it is an interesting first step. The pilot programme has sought to put in place a figure that states would be obliged to respond to.

On the same day the Commission's proposal was announced, the Minister for Justice and Equality indicated her intention to go beyond the figure of 272 people that was allocated, in principle, for Ireland. On that day she indicated that Ireland would take 300 people and the proposal was endorsed by the Irish Cabinet in recent weeks. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Irish authorities for their support. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon visited here a month ago. The UNHCR hosted, together with the Minister for Justice and Equality, an event at Farmleigh for resettled refugees. The Secretary General, in his speech, welcomed Ireland's commitment to resettlement and the Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme. He also said, at that time, that these commitments are not enough to meet the need. The UNHCR is very grateful for the commitment and hope that more might be possible in order to respond to the huge need that exists.

The Irish resettlement programme is an important contribution to providing legal alternatives for people to find a place of safety, rather than undertaking dangerous sea crossings that we have seen happen in recent years. This year we have already reached the 100,000 mark of people who have travelled across the Mediterranean and over 200,000 people travelled last year. We know that the LE Eithne, thanks to the contribution of the Irish State, has rescued over 1,500 people and brought them to a place of safety in Italy. The following questions remain. What happens to people in Europe? Can we respond better and upscale our efforts in terms of relocation and resettlement?

That concludes my opening comments. We are happy to take any questions that the committee may have.