Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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180. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if there are plans to rehome refugees in counties Cavan and Monaghan; if so, the status of these plans; the locations and areas which have been identified; the number of refugees this involves; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1466/17]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) was approved by Government Decision on 10 September 2015 in response to the migration crisis which has developed in Southern Europe, and as an act of solidarity with other Member States Under this decision, the Government confirmed that Ireland will take in up to 4,000 persons over the next two years in order to give effect to the EU legal instruments it has opted into, with approval of the Oireachtas, in respect of relocation and the solemn commitments Ireland has also entered into in respect of resettlement of refugees.

Among the measures agreed under the Programme was the establishment of a Network of Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres (EROCs) which would be used to provide initial accommodation in order to meet the basic needs of asylum seekers relocated from hot spots in Italy and Greece while their applications for refugee status are processed.

In addition, the Government has committed under the Programme to take in additional resettlement refugees who must also be temporally accommodated in EROCs for the purposes of reception, orientation and integration training, prior to being resettled in communities across Ireland. In this specific regard two EROCs were opened in the past year, one in Co. Kildare and one in Co. Waterford.

Those coming in as relocated asylum seekers via Greece/Italy are managed by the Programme Office of the IRPP. Those destined for the new Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre (EROC) in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon will be asylum seekers coming via the Greece/Italy route. As this cohort are expected to receive a grant of international protection within a period of 8-12 weeks, their stay in EROCs is intended to be short-term after which they will be housed elsewhere in Ireland.

In terms of the resettlement in local communities of refugees temporarily accommodated in EROCs, the Deputy will be aware that the Government have established a Taskforce to oversee the implementation of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme. Senior Officials from Government departments and key agencies, including the City and County Managers Association, sit on the Taskforce. A sub-committee of the Taskforce, established be me to oversee the implementation of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and composed of senior officials from Government Departments including the City and County Managers Association, are working on a distribution key to inform the distribution of refugees admitted under the programmes across the country. To-date, refugees have been resettled in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Galway and Mayo. Over the next 18 months, refugees will be resettled in other counties around the country until the full cohort of refugees have arrived in Ireland and have been resettled into the community. Therefore at some point over that period it is highly likely that County Cavan and County Monaghan will be asked to house a proportion of the refugees admitted to Ireland. As is the case with counties that have already accepted refugees, appropriate structures and funding mechanisms will be put in place prior to this happening.