Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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171. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of refugees who have been accepted here in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21186/16]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I assume that the Deputy is referring to refugees and asylum seekers admitted under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme.

520 refugees are to be resettled in Ireland under the resettlement programme by 31 December 2017, of whom 273 have been admitted from Lebanon to date since 20 July 2015 (date of Council Conclusions on resettlement). 110 of these cases were admitted in 2016 to date. Sufficient cases were selected during a selection mission to Lebanon in January 2016 to fill the rest of the quota by the end of the summer. They have been security screened and are in the process of being health screened at present. They are expected to arrive between July and September.

It was recently announced that a selection team will be sent to Lebanon to select an additional 260 refugees under the Refugee Resettlement Programme for admission in 2017.

So far 38 Syrians have arrived in Ireland under the relocation programme. The slow pace of the relocation programme is mainly due to difficulties in getting migrants to register in Italy and Greece. The pace is expected to pick up significantly and the Greek authorities have agreed that they will double the numbers available for transfer to Ireland to 40 persons every 4 weeks with greater numbers of persons available later in the year.