Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A key aspect on which we have not touched in dealing with the humanitarian crisis is the increase in the number of Syrian refugees relocating and resettling here. Today my colleague, Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, organised a briefing in the AV room with the Irish Refugee Council which is concerned that Ireland is not doing enough to assist refugees. In the past two weeks we have debated the difficulties several times and that the system does not seem to be working in the case of refugees coming to Ireland. Will the Minister confirm that the target is still 4,000 and detail how the Government will rapidly increase the relocation of refugees to Ireland? I made the point today that it was important we were informed as public representatives and that the people we represented were informed of where the people in question would go, how they would be supported and how they would live and that they would not be stuck in direct provision centres for three, five or ten years, which is what some families have been put through. It is about looking outside the box to try to redouble our efforts to help the people concerned.

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