Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for highlighting the importance of the community sponsorship scheme. To clarify, it is available to people who have already been identified as refugees under the Irish refugee protection programme, not people coming in through direct provision. Over the past seven months, the scheme has been particularly important to Ireland's rapid response to the situation in Afghanistan. We have issued 550 visas to people fleeing Afghanistan who were at real risk of losing their lives. Many of them are in emergency reception and orientation centres, EROCs, across the country, but they will then move into the community. Many of them are being supported by community sponsorship groups. Deputies may know of groups that are interested in doing something like this. It is definitely a commitment, but a valuable one in terms of the provision of accommodation and the support from and link with local communities. I have met a number of Afghan refugees who are now integrating into our society and are incredibly grateful for the opportunity they have been given.

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