Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cairns and acknowledge what the Chair said. The Government is working according to the temporary protection directive, which is an EU directive that directs all 27 member states on how to respond to the Ukraine crisis. It is a directive that I am comfortable working with. It extends significant rights to Ukrainian displaced persons when they come to this country. It enables them to better integrate into society and to take up employment rapidly by being able to engage in the wider sphere. The reason for having a temporary protection directive in the first place is well beyond my pay grade. We have to recognise that people displaced by this war immediately enter the European Union. They do not flee through two, three or four countries, but immediately leave Ukraine and enter Poland, Hungary, Slovakia or Romania. Millions have already made that journey. I imagine that is the basis behind the construction of the temporary protection directive a number of years ago and why the treatment of people fleeing a crisis immediately on our borders was seen by the European Union as being different from the treatment of people fleeing a crisis at some geographical distance.

It is important to recall our response to the two other crises the Deputy mentioned in Afghanistan and Syria. Since the Syrian crisis broke out, just 3,500 Syrian refugees have been relocated to Ireland as part of the Irish refugee protection programme 1 and 2 and they have settled in communities all over the country. Some of that was done through community sponsorship, which I am sure the Deputy is familiar with. It involves amazing community groups coming together to support families. They provide accommodation and support. As we all know, the house itself is not enough. The links to the community are important. Last November, I had the opportunity to go to Jordan, which hosts almost 2 million Syrian refugees, with 20% of its population being refugees. I visited the Zaatari refugee camp there and met a number of Syrian refugees who will be located in Ireland. We have active missions. Later this month, approximately 80 Syrian refugees will come from Lebanon to Ireland.

Following the Afghan crisis last year, we provided refugee accommodation for 600 refugees. They are not going through international protection. They are people who have refugee status and all the benefits that flow from that. Whereas the response to the Syrian conflict was part of a co-ordinated EU response, the response to Afghanistan was really Ireland standing on its own, because the international response to the crisis in Afghanistan was not good. Six hundred is a small number compared with the scale of what happened in Afghanistan. They are people who were particularly vulnerable, including female judges, human rights defenders and members of the LGBTQI+ community, who were at particular risk from the attack of the Taliban.

Our response to other refugee crises has been generous. As the Deputy knows, the issue of international protection and those who do not have status and come here seeking it is one the Government is addressing through a White Paper and changes to the application system to make it go faster so people can get an adjudication on their claim more quickly. While they are waiting for that adjudication, they require improvements to their housing and ability to integrate.