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

I acknowledge the Deputy's interest in this area and thank him for his question. The Irish refugee protection programme was established by in September 2015 as a direct result of the humanitarian crisis that developed in southern Europe as a consequence of mass migration from areas of conflict. Under the programme, the Government has pledged to accept a total of 4,000 persons into the State by the end of 2017, through a combination of relocation from Italy and Greece, and resettlement from Jordan and Lebanon.

Under the resettlement part of the programme, 520 refugees are to be resettled in Ireland by the end of this year. To date, 486 refugees have been admitted to the State. Sufficient cases have already been selected, during a mission to Lebanon earlier this year, to ensure the remaining refugees in this quota of 520 will be taken in by the end of 2016 ahead of schedule. In addition, the Government recently announced it is extending the resettlement programme to take in a further 250 refugees from Lebanon in 2017.

Under relocation, Ireland has to date taken in 69 Syrians from Greece, mostly families. A further 40 people have been assessed and cleared for arrival and arrangements for their travel to the State are being made. Last week, officials interviewed a group of 63 people in Athens who, once cleared for travel, are expected to arrive in October. It is estimated that by the end of 2016, Ireland will have accepted at least 360 people under relocation. The intention thereafter is to sustain the pace of intakes throughout 2017 at the levels required to allow Ireland to meet its commitments within the timeframes.

As regards the well documented delays, the Minister is on record as stating that the pace of arrivals during pervious months has been a lot slower than she or I would have liked. The delays have been experienced by the majority of participating states, not just Ireland, and are due to issues outside of our control. They include issues such as inadequate resources and administration on the ground in Greece, technical issues regarding security assessments in Italy and a reluctance on the part of migrants to apply for asylum in hotspots, which is a pre-requisite for entering the relocation programme.

The Government has been concerned at the slow pace of intake. In June this year, a team of officials travelled to Athens to help Greek authorities to identify ways of addressing administrative obstacles and to devise a more ambitious schedule for relocations from Greek hotspots to Ireland. Irish officials also helped to develop and deliver information sessions for potential relocation applicants aimed at encouraging them to take up places on offer in Ireland rather than remaining in limbo as unregistered migrants. More recently, I spoke with colleagues from Italy and an official travelled to Italy to address the delays there. Following this, we expect these issues will change.

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