Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department, in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will introduce a humanitarian visa programme along the lines of the one in place in Belgium for those displaced by war in order to facilitate asylum applications and allow more legal migration route; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27431/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) was established by Government Decision on 10 September 2015 as a direct response to the humanitarian crisis that developed in Southern Europe as a consequence of mass migration from areas of conflict in the Middle East and Africa. Under the programme the Government has pledged to accept a total of 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 and 520 programme refugees which Ireland pledged to resettle under the voluntary EU Resettlement programme. Persons admitted 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.

My Department is fully engaged with our commitments under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and all available resources are being directed to ensuring that we can meet these commitments within the time scales envisaged. The programme includes family reunification and I have no plans at present to introduce an additional humanitarian programme such as that referenced by the Deputy.

I continue to work proactively with my colleagues in Europe to ensure that Ireland and the European Union responds comprehensively to all aspects of the ongoing migration and refugee crisis.