James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on the total admissions to the Irish refugee protection programme since its inception; when the next group of refugees from Jordan and Lebanon are expected to travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36699/22]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister provide an update on the total admissions of people under the Irish refugee protection programme since its inception? Will he give us an update as to when the next group of refugees who will arrive from Jordan and Lebanon are expected to travel? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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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, 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.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. It is a very uncertain time in the world, particularly in the region to which I referred. Ireland has worked with that region over a great many years. I recognise that Deputy Stanton, who is sitting behind me, worked on that portfolio in the previous Government. It is important for us to continue to support people in that region. I was recently in the Sinai region of Egypt, which is not terribly far away. It is very easy for us to forget just how lucky we are to live in a country as peaceful, as stable and as economically successful as Ireland. There are regions of the world where that is far from being the case.

Is an update available on the status of the delivery of the commitments under the White Paper on ending direct provision?

This is a very timely and important debate given the significant inbound level of migration and direct provision in Ireland at the moment.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for his response. I too had the opportunity to travel to that region in November of last year. I visited Jordan and the Al Za'atari refugee camp and I was very impressed by the generosity of the Jordanian Government. It is a country of 10 million people and 2 million people, 20% of that population, are refugees. They are provided with the same Covid-19 vaccinations and the same level of supports as are the rest of the population. It puts a great strain on the resources of a country that is not wealthy and that country certainly welcomed our support in taking a small number of refugees, which nevertheless enabled the taking of some of those requirements away from that country. The same applies to Lebanon, a country which is very much struggling right now. Both of those countries recognise the importance of this support. If I may, I will address the queries on the White Paper in my last response.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for the update. Another point which needs to be made is that there was a great deal of unfortunate commentary in recent times about the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. It is dangerous to go into that type of territory. It is important also that the Government works with communities which are hosting refugees. I am from the town of Youghal and the Minister will be very familiar with the fact that a very short distance from where I live the Redbarn centre was set up and there is a very significant number of Ukrainians there at the moment. It is important that there is cohesion from every stakeholder’s perspective and that Government engages with those communities, particularly in matters of education.

Our local secondary school, Pobalscoil na Trionóide in Youghal, has been doing wonderful work to accommodate the very significant number of new students who will be arriving in September. We should not just be talking to the commercial operators but to the local communities also. I invite the Minister to come to the Cork East constituency. We would be delighted to meet him to see if he can get a better perspective from all angles on this issue. This is a point that needs to put forward in a very politically appropriate manner, unlike what we heard, I believe, on the “Claire Byrne Live” programme last week. That type of dangerous commentary is profoundly regrettable in this republic. Perhaps the Minister might commit to visiting east Cork at some stage.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for the invitation and I will certainly do my best to take it up. The Deputy has raised the issues in respect of ensuring that where we welcome Ukrainians, or indeed people from any crisis, that there is capacity here. Our response to Ukraine has been an emergency one and is a response to a war that none of us anticipated. My Department has not always got it right in the co-ordination area but we have done our best and we will continue to do so and this is recognised by the Ukrainian authorities.

It is putting real pressure on the system as has both this development and the increase in the arrivals of international protection applicants. We discussed this question earlier. There will be delays with the implementation of the White Paper because of that. We are looking at the timetable at the moment and we hope to be able to provide an update in the next number of weeks as to the accommodation element. The integration elements will continue to be rolled out and will be beneficial for Ukrainians now and subsequently for international protection applicants.