Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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96. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of Ireland's contribution to the EU's response to the migration crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17635/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is working proactively with our colleagues in Europe to ensure that Ireland and the European Union responds comprehensively to this critical humanitarian challenge. Ireland has clearly played its part in this regard by sending some of our Naval vessels to the Mediterranean to carry out vital search and rescue missions to ensure the safety of many people trying to come to Europe for protection. In addition, Irish Aid, the Government's development cooperation programme has been supporting efforts to assist the Syrian people, which by the end of 2015 saw a total of €42 million in support provided with an additional €20 million pledged for 2016. Ireland has also committed funding to the World Food Programme; some €60 million over the next three years, which is specifically targeted at refugees and in particular Syrian refugees.

In September 2015, the Government agreed to establish the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and to accept up to 4,000 persons overall under the EU Relocation and Resettlement programmes. This is made up of approximately 2,622 persons to be relocated to Ireland from other EU Member States (Italy and Greece) under the two EU Relocation Decisions which Ireland has opted-in to, and 520 programme refugees which Ireland pledged to resettle under the voluntary EU Resettlement Programme. The mechanism by which the balance of 858 persons will be admitted has yet to be decided. Persons accepted here under these Programmes will also have an entitlement to family reunification, if they wish to do so, thereby further increasing the numbers accepted by Ireland.

To date a total of 273 programme refugees have been admitted from Lebanon with the balance of 247 expected to arrive by the end of September, also from Lebanon. As such, our commitment under the Resettlement programme will be realised in advance of the EU timeframe for implementation.

The pace of the Relocation programme across the EU has not progressed as fast as Member States has hoped with just 2,195 having been relocated overall across the participating EU Member States. This is largely due to operational issues in the setting up of the 'hotspot' locations in Italy and Greece, including the task of persuading migrants and asylum seekers to cooperate with the registration process - a prerequisite to entering the Relocation process.

The first group of persons relocated to Ireland from Greece, a Syrian family of ten, who arrived in January have been granted refugee status and are receiving our full support to assist them in their integration into Irish society. A further group of 31 Syrians are due to arrive this week and an additional 40 persons are provisionally scheduled to arrive towards the end of July.

Officials of my Department have been working closely with Greece over the past number of months and staff have also been seconded to the European Asylum Support Office to establish the relocation programme on the ground in Greece. In addition, officials from my Department, including the Director of the Irish Refugee Protection programme, travelled to Greece last week to meet with the Greek authorities to progress matters. The outcome of that visit has been very positive and Greece has now committed, within the coming months to significantly increasing the numbers available to Ireland. This will greatly facilitate Ireland's efforts to meet our targets set by Government last September, within a reasonable timescale.

Ireland continues to work at EU level on progressing measures to build on existing commitments and platforms, including the Western Balkan Leaders’ Meeting and the Valletta Summit. Ireland participated in both high-level conferences last autumn and agreed to contribute €3 million to the trust fund for Africa. In addition, a key element of the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan, which was agreed by Heads of State in November 2015, is the €3 billion fund supporting Syrian refugees in Turkey. Ireland's contribution to the fund is €22.9 million.

The migration crisis is a highly challenging issue and is expected to remain a focus of my discussions with my European counterparts in the coming months. EU Heads of State and Government will also discuss this issue at the forthcoming European Council in June.