Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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13. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when commitments will be honoured to increase Ireland's intake of refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria as part of a wider European response; and her views regarding the refugee crisis. [29387/16]

David Stanton (Cork East, 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 this programme, the Government has pledged to accept a total of 4,000 persons into the State by the end of 2017, through a combination of the EU relocation mechanism established by two EU Council Decisions in 2015 to assist Italy and Greece, and the UNHCR-led refugee resettlement programme currently focused on resettling refugees from camps in Lebanon.

Under the resettlement part of the Programme, 520 refugees are to be resettled in Ireland by the end of 2016. To date, 486 refugees have been admitted to the State and a further 14 are scheduled to arrive today. Sufficient cases were selected during a mission to Lebanon earlier this year to ensure that the full quota of 520 will be taken in during 2016, ahead of schedule. In addition, the Government recently announced that it is extending the resettlement programme to take in a further 260 refugees from Lebanon in 2017.

Under relocation, Ireland has to date taken in 69 Syrians from Greece, mostly families, and a further 40 people are scheduled to arrive this month. A further 63 people have been assessed and cleared for arrival and arrangements for their travel to the State are currently being made. Last week, IRPP officials interviewed a group of 71 people in Athens who, once cleared for travel, are expected to arrive in November. Further missions are scheduled for November and December and by the end of 2016 it is expected that Ireland will have accepted up to 400 people through the relocation pledge system. The intention is to sustain the pace of intakes throughout 2017 at the levels required to allow Ireland to meets its commitments within the timeframe envisaged by the Programme.