Dáil debates

Thursday, 29 November 2018

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Asylum Seekers

10:50 am

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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4. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Syrian refugees accepted as part of the agreement reached with the European Union; and the position Syrian refugees are at in the integration process. [49977/18]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am keen for an update on the numbers of people we have accepted under the relocation and resettlement strands of the UN and EU resettlement programme for refugees from Lebanon, Greece and Italy. What is the process when those people arrive here? Is the State successfully meeting our objectives for integrating and assimilating? It is important that the Government gets it right. I am keen for an update from the Minister of State.

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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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. Under the programme, the Government committed to accept up to 4,000 people, mostly Syrian, into the State through a combination of the EU relocation mechanism, established by two Council of the European Union decisions in 2015 to assist Italy and Greece, and the UNHCR-led refugee resettlement programme, which is focused on resettling refugees from Lebanon.

Ireland agreed to opt in to Council of the European Union decisions 2015/1523 and 2015/1601 which allocated the number of asylum seekers that was to be relocated to each member state participating in these decisions.

11 o’clock

Ireland agreed to accept 2,622 persons under these decisions. As it was not possible to operationalise the commitment in respect of Italy, which numbered 600 persons, the Government agreed to increase the number of refugees it would accept under the resettlement programme. This includes Syrian refugees who had been given temporary asylum in Lebanon.

We committed to accept 1,040 programme refugees under the resettlement strand of the programme. A total of 928 people have arrived, 875 of whom are Syrian, and 113 people will arrive in mid-December 2018. My officials are working with the relevant international bodies to ensure that refugees selected during a mission to Lebanon in June 2018 will arrive soon thereafter.

The Government has pledged to take a further 945 programme refugees from Lebanon or Jordan by the end of 2019.A further mission to select 231 refugees was carried out in Lebanon in October 2018. This mission completed our pledge to the EU for 2018. Two further missions to select 600 persons will take place in 2019.

Ireland's EU relocation programme concluded in March 2018. Overall, 1,022 people, 959 of them Syrian, arrived safely from Greece and work continues on sourcing housing in communities throughout Ireland.

As of 27 November, 287 Syrians, including Irish-born children, were living in emergency response and orientation centres.

A key step in the integration of refugees is moving them to permanent housing. The Deputy will appreciate that housing falls under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. However, to be of assistance to the Deputy, I will set out the general processes that apply in the Irish resettlement model.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The Irish refugee protection programme, IRPP, which falls under the ambit of the office for the promotion of migrant integration, OPMI, within my Department has a co-ordinating role in respect of all matters related to the settlement of refugees.

Resettlement in communities is co-ordinated by Inter-Agency Working Groups, chaired by the relevant local authority and with members from relevant agencies such as the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Tusla, An Garda Síochána, the Education and Welfare Service, the education and training board and the IRPP. Once a family is resettled in a community, an implementing partner procured by the local authority provides appropriate services for a period of twelve to eighteen months. The standard model is now focussed on an eighteen month period. The implementing partner plays a critical role in ensuring the success of each resettlement through their expertise in community integration and relevant supports. The funding for the implementing partner is provided by the IRPP and the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), both managed under the auspices of my Department.

The implementation of the programme requires a high level of coordination among service delivery agencies at both national and local level. Service provision is mainstreamed and all the main statutory service providers such as Government departments, the HSE, Tusla and local authorities are represented on the national task force which oversees delivery of the programme. The programme is co-ordinated overall by the IRPP, but service provision remains the responsibility of the relevant statutory entity.

A total of 1486 Syrians have been housed throughout the country and are accommodated in local authority housing across 18 counties.

Overall, 1690 refugees - Syrian, Palestinian and Iraqi - have been housed by local authorities and the Irish Red Cross under the programme. This figure includes Irish born children. In terms of all refugees who have arrived under this programme almost 85 per cent of persons have been housed.

The Irish Red Cross is also managing an aspect of the programme to secure accommodation pledged by members of the public. This is largely being deployed to meet the needs of single persons, as few accommodation options exist within the local authority sector for this cohort. To date the Red Cross have sourced accommodation for 96 beneficiaries in 11 counties.

11:00 am

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I welcome the fact that the Minister of State has gone back to Lebanon to look for an additional number of refugees mainly from Syria, but also Jordan, where I understand conditions are particularly harsh for refugees. That is a welcome initiative.

Is the stream of refugees we were due to take from Italy closed off now? Is that finished? I do not know whether the Minister of State is in contact with his colleagues from Italy and elsewhere. Given the political situation in Italy, it is interesting that the country with perhaps the most difficult political issue with migration and refugees at the moment seems to be the one that has failed to relocate refugees.

Second, how we integrate refugees once they are here is critical. There is concern about the numbers in emergency accommodation and, while we have a housing crisis, it is critically important that in the processing of people, once they come here, they are not held in long-term hotel or other emergency accommodation and are settled in houses.

What is the Minister of State's expected timeline in that? Even in broad figures, rather than going down to the minutiae of numbers, when does he think there will be 4,000 refugees here? How long will it take to get them housed?

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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We were unable to arrange with Italy to bring refugees here because the Italians would not allow us to carry out security checks on their territory. We tried hard but were not successful in doing that, although we wanted to.

A total of 1,486 Syrians have been housed throughout the country and are accommodated in local authority housing across 18 counties.

Overall, 1,690 Syrian, Palestinian and Iraqi refugees have been housed by local authorities and the Irish Red Cross under the programme. This figure includes Irish born children. Almost 85% of refugees who have arrived under this programme have been housed.

The Irish Red Cross is also managing an aspect of the programme to secure accommodation pledged by members of the public. This is largely being deployed to meet the needs of single persons, as few accommodation options exist within the local authority sector for this cohort. To date, the Red Cross has sourced accommodation for 96 beneficiaries in 11 counties.

The Deputy asked about integration and much focus is given to integration and helping people learn language and integrate into communities. Communities are welcoming Syrian refugees throughout the country and that is of benefit.

We also have made significant funding available. I do not have the time to go into that detail now, but I can provide it to the Deputy if he so wishes later.

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Minister of State could continue to provide as much detail as possible because it is in everyone's interest that this works well. Within those figures, over the next five years, it would be good to see the levels of language ability and whether there has been success in bringing the level of understanding and use of English up. It would be interesting to see figures on the level of work and assimilation into the education system. There is an urgency for us to get that right. Tús maith leath an oibre. We need to start on the right foot in getting children and adults into education quickly, getting people into work as quickly as we can, and getting people out of emergency accommodation and into housing to ensure they integrate well.

It is important that the Minister keeps his attention, focus and, if necessary, budget on these matters because we need to get this right for the confidence of our people, for the respect of those who are coming, and for other people who may come in the future, so we learn how to do this well.

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy and there is a focus on integration and inclusion of refugees. I visited Donegal last week and met some Syrian families there. Children are going to school, and parents are learning English and working and so on. A lot is happening.

We also mobilised EU funding under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to provide supports, through local authorities, to refugees. Local authorities play a critical role in ensuring the successful integration of refugees through the provision of housing and implementation of a process carried out by the implementing partner, with expertise in community integration and relevant supports. This programme of implementation of integration requires a high level of co-ordination among service delivery agencies at both national and local level. Service provision is mainstreamed and all the main statutory service providers such as Departments, the HSE, Tusla and local authorities are represented on the national task force that oversees delivery of the programme. The programme is co-ordinated overall by the IRPP but service provision remains the responsibility of the relevant statutory entity.

The Deputy is correct that it is important we get integration right and I thank him for his support on this. We are working hard on that, with the various bodies, and there is support given for up to 18 months to the refugees to help them integrate and it is working well.