Ms Sophie Magennis:

Much was raised in questions and comments by members. A common theme was very heavy criticism of the lack of global leadership, of the United Nations and of the Security Council and of the failure to act. There has been a lot of criticism of the global and European response. When the High Commissioner for Refugees came to Ireland in 2012, he spoke many times about the lack of a coherent global governance framework. I am the head of office with the UNHCR in Ireland. It is not my role to defend the United Nations. The criticisms that have been made today are valid. What we have been trying to do at the level of the High Commissioner and also the United Nations Secretary General is to see what solutions and ideas there might be. We are at a stage where there does not seem to be a possibility of political consensus in the Security Council to try to address what is happening in terms of conflicts in the world. We hope that there will be some movement on that but we are in the hands of the member states when it comes to political leadership in solving these problems. We hope that should Ireland take a seat on the Security Council in future years, or through its influence there, it will seek to advance the kind of reforms that are necessary. The criticisms are valid but I would appreciate an opportunity today to look at what Irish parliamentarians and the Irish State can do to try to do something constructive in the midst of all of this mayhem and lack of global leadership, because children and vulnerable people are suffering and there are things that can be done.

I want to address some of the specific questions raised by members.

Deputy Durkan asked some questions on what was happening in Turkey and Lebanon. The UNHCR is on the ground in Turkey and is working directly with the Turkish authorities to provide support to the refugees who are there. The Turkish authorities have spent nearly $5 billion in providing support to refugees and our colleagues are involved in registering refugees and providing all the assistance we can provide. Our colleagues are also in Lebanon. A couple of Irish people working with the UNHCR are in the field providing support in the shape of access to medical care, access to funds and, where possible, education. However, we simply cannot cope with the numbers and more support needs to be given by other states where Syrian nationals on the ground do not amount to one in four of its population.

There were a couple of questions about how the resettlement and relocation programmes would work, particularly from Deputy Eric Byrne. Ireland will take 520 refugees on resettlement before the end of 2016 and those refugees will come from Jordan and Lebanon. The UNHCR will register refugees in the area by looking at their vulnerability and their needs and we will then recommend them to countries for resettlement. Ireland has a long-standing history of being one of a very small number of resettlement countries and we refer vulnerable cases, such as families and medical cases, here. The Irish authorities come out to meet the refugees in the camps and they then come to Ireland. I have met with some of the recent intake here. It would be very helpful if parliamentarians could assist in raising awareness about these programmes and why people are coming here so that we can assist with their integration into Ireland. We would be happy to provide more information about these programmes for this purpose.

A question was asked about the relocation of the 4,000 who will be coming to Ireland this year and next year. These are asylum seekers who have come into the European Union seeking protection. Nationalities that have 75% refugee recognition rate will be eligible for relocation. This will mean that nationalities who, when assessed for refugee protection within the European Union, have a very high rate of being recognised as refugees will be eligible for the relocation programme. In practice, this means Syrian and Eritrean refugees. They will be selected in Italy and Greece and invited to Ireland. It is likely they will come into the State in groups of 100 every three months or so.

As regards national preparations, the Minister for Justice and Equality has established a task force and, while this veers into the domestic domain, there is a foreign affairs element to this and a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs sits on the task force. The task force co-ordinates all the arrangements in Ireland for the arrival of the 4,000 relocated asylum seekers, their speedy assessment as refugees and their accommodation within the country.

Senator Walsh asked about the issue of security assessment, which is crucial and is a big risk factor for the UNHCR when we undertake resettlement or relocation arrangements. We have to be very careful about how these procedures are rolled out so they are all conducted in close collaboration with the gardaí and with FRONTEX. Security screening happens both pre-departure and on arrival and exclusion assessments are also conducted to make sure anybody who may have involved in conflict or war crimes is not included in an intake. I can assure the Senator on those points.

Deputy Mitchell raised the issue of what the European Union could do. These are global problems and not for Germany alone to solve through the excellent leadership the Chancellor has provided nor is it for the European Union alone, as a bloc, to provide a solution. However, the European Union is uniquely placed at the moment to provide an example. The UNHCR advocates with other African and Asian countries and appeals to them to keep their borders open, to admit people who need protection and to provide humanitarian assistance.

This is also something the Irish authorities, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade among others, will be involved in when there is a conflict. We appeal to countries to keep their borders open, to admit people who need protection and to provide humanitarian assistance.

Irish Aid has an excellent programme that provides assistance and aid to people. We appeal to nations in other very poor, very unstable parts of the world to assist. We would appeal now to the European Union and to countries like Ireland, and parliamentarians like the members, to be part of mapping out solutions and ideas to see how we can positively respond to this crisis. If the European Union can provide a positive example, starting off today with the leaders' decision on the relocation programme, we are then in a stronger position to advance our advocacy.

Also within the European Union, solidarity should be demonstrated with countries in the south such as Italy, Greece and Malta, where there has been some solidarity extended, particularly by the Irish Naval Service and Defence Forces, which have done wonderful work in the Mediterranean. These are good examples that can be built on.