Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last April, both Deputy Clare Daly and I raised the issue of unaccompanied minors in Calais. We pleaded with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to send officials to Calais and Dunkirk to process some of the people there and to see if it was possible to take some in. This would not have cost the State a penny given Irish families were prepared to take them in. I promised to take one myself. We contacted Tusla and we were promised a meeting to talk about how the process for resettlement of unaccompanied minors would work. There was no meeting, no replies to e-mails and no understanding of how to move forward.

There are 1,000 unaccompanied minors in Calais at the moment. The camp will be flattened before the end of October. The French admit they only have facilities for approximately 260 of these minors. Will the Government please consider taking in unaccompanied minors and sending officials there to process them? An Irishwoman, Karen Moynihan, is on the ground there working with the refugee youth service. She is a brilliant individual who has done a number of reports. The Minister of State could communicate with her. The last time the camp was cleared, 129 kids disappeared. It will be worse this time. Surely we can do something.

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