David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recognise Deputy Clare Daly's commitment and interest in this area. Certainly, what happened in Syria is shocking and appalling. We know that and have followed what has gone on.

As I said at the start, under the protocol Ireland voluntarily opted into this programme. We were asked to take 2,622 persons into the State, comprising 1,089 from Greece and 623 from Italy and 910 were unallocated by the European Union. To date, 1,022 persons have safely been relocated to Ireland from Greece and another 600 persons will arrive next year as part of the resettlement programme. As part of the programme for resettlement, 925 people from camps in Lebanon have been resettled here and another 200 persons will come here before Christmas. Ireland is a very small country but we are doing our best to bring people here from the camps in Greece and Lebanon. We were unable to bring people in from Italy. We tried very hard to do so and are still working on doing so. As much as 20% of the funding will be for relocation. We also support non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and others with some of this funding.