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

On 10 September 2015, as part of Ireland's response to the migration crisis in central and southern Europe, the Government established the Irish refugee protection programme, IRPP. The IRPP has seen the arrival of approximately 4,100 refugees under various resettlement strands, the largest of which is the programme led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR.

There have been significant challenges in meeting these targets over the course of 2020 and 2021, with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the IRPP's support for the arrival of almost 550 refugees from Afghanistan following the crisis there in August and September 2021. The IRPP is working to resume its planned resettlement processes for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023.

On 18 May of this year, 76 Syrian refugees arrived from Beirut to Ireland following their selection during the IRPP mission there in September 2021. Work is under way to arrange for the arrival, in the coming months, of the remaining 470 people who were selected as part of the mission to Beirut and a further mission to Jordan in November 2021.

The timelines for further arrivals through the UNHCR mechanism remain dependent on the time required to make necessary travel arrangements and on the space available in the emergency reception and orientation centres, EROCs. Both our EROCs are currently at capacity.

One of the real successes of the IRPP has been the community sponsorship programme, whereby communities not only come together and find accommodation but also, really importantly, put in place the supports to welcome families into their communities. That has been operating really well in Ireland. Our operation of the programme aligns, I think, with best practice internationally. I was in Geneva earlier this week and met with the UNHCR. It complimented highly our community sponsorship programme. I recognise those communities that have done that already and those that are working to prepare themselves to welcome some of these new arrivals.

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