Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

In his reply the Minister of State has shown an awareness of the fact that there are Palestinian refugees in Iraq who have been forced to flee, particularly to the Iraq-Syria border, because of the activities of Iraqi security forces and militias. These people are stranded at the border — the last estimate gave a figure of 850 Palestinians — because their homes have been raided, their furniture thrown out and some have been targeted and killed. One raid last week saw 51 Palestinians detained. One was killed and 41 succeeded in fleeing to the border region where they are now stranded.

I welcome the Minister of State's comment that Ireland will be appropriately represented at the conference in April but does he not agree that, welcome though it is, more than financial aid is required? In this instance those representing Ireland at the conference should give, in addition to financial aid, an expression of our support by allowing Ireland to take a substantial number of programme refugees. The Minister of State pointed out that the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible in this regard but hopefully he can ask the Minister to ensure that the representative at the conference will pledge to allow a number of programme refugees to come here. We can set the standard for other nations in attendance by reaching out to these stranded people who are being targeted in Iraq.

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