Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Boyd Barrett is asking whether Ireland can resettle a family now in Turkey who are United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, programme refugees and that some of the family members have disabilities. As I responded in recent correspondence to the Deputy, while Ireland participates in a resettlement programme led by the UNHCR, it is the latter that assesses each case and makes a referral to a participating state. Ireland has received no such referral from the UNHCR. It is highly unlikely Ireland would receive such a referral because it does not have a resettlement programme in Turkey.

As Deputy Boyd Barrett will be aware, Ireland has an active resettlement programme in Lebanon under the Irish refugee protection programme, IRPP. Ireland has doubled its commitment in respect of refugees currently in Lebanon and is accepting 1,040 programme refugees under that strand of the IRPP. Of these refugees, 792 are already in Ireland and the remaining individuals are due to arrive in the coming months. I have pledged to take a further 945 refugees from Lebanon between this year and next year. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and I also recently announced a new family humanitarian admission programme, which provides for 530 immediate family members of refugees from established conflict zones to come to Ireland over a two-year period.

All programme refugees in Lebanon are selected by the UNHCR on the basis of vulnerability, including persons with various health conditions. Staff of the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration who are responsible for the IRPP then undertake comprehensive resettlement missions in Lebanon. The selection of resettlement applicants requires detailed consideration of files received from the UNHCR as well as personal interviews, orientation and security assessments in Lebanon.

There are established and successful pathways for resettlement in this country. While I appreciate the vulnerability of the family that is the subject of the Deputy's request, I must point out, as I have done in correspondence, that it is extremely difficult for Ireland to engage in any form of resettlement in response to once-off requests. This would potentially disadvantage other refugees who have fulfilled objective criteria to qualify for the refugee programme.

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