John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if persons coming here under the refugee protection programme have been declared refugees prior to landing here or if their claims still have to be heard when they arrive here; if the latter, if the process is the same for existing asylum applications or different; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3826/17]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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People arriving under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme fall into two general categories. Those arriving from Lebanon under the refugee resettlement strand of the programme are deemed to be "programme refugees" upon arrival as provided for under Section 59 of the International Protection Act, 2015. In other words they already have refugee status prior to arrival in Ireland.

Those arriving under the relocation strand of the Programme, from Greece or Italy, do so via a relocation mechanism established by Council Decisions EU/2015/1523 and EU/2015/1601 to assist Greece and Italy in their efforts to address the migration crisis on their shores. They do not have refugee status and arrive in Ireland as asylum seekers and go through the asylum application process operated by the International Protection Office. However, in order for an asylum seeker to be eligible for relocation an applicant must belong to a nationality for which the proportion of decisions granting international protection among decisions taken at first instance on applications for international protection is, according to the latest available updated quarterly Union-wide average Eurostat data, 75 % or higher. Therefore as relocated asylum seekers fall into the above category they generally obtain a decision on their application for international protection within 8-12 weeks.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of funding that has been allocated for 2017 to the refugee protection programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3827/17]

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 migration crisis that had developed on the southern shores of the European Union. Under this decision a programme office was established in my Department to oversee the operational aspects of the programme, which aims to bring in 4,000 vulnerable migrants to Ireland under two different mechanisms, refugee resettlement - operated by the Office for Promotion of Migrant Integration (OPMI) - and asylum seeker relocation.

The IRPP deals with all aspects of a migrant's life from the moment they are selected for relocation or resettlement to their transportation to Ireland and eventual settlement in the communities around the state. Consequently, the cost of the programme is spread across many government departments and state agencies and cannot be calculated without significantly impacting on resources in those Departments.

Within my own Department the costs of the programme are spread across several different areas including the Irish Refugee Protection Programme Office, the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration, the International Protection Office and the Reception and Integration Agency - many of which cover a wide range of activities beyond those specifically related to the IRPP. While it would be difficult to produce a detailed breakdown of funding across all Justice areas involved in the programme without disproportionately impacting on staff resources, I understand that the total funding for those aspects of the Programme being operated within my Department is in the region of €20 million.

It is expected that the pace of the programme will continue to increase during 2017. Accordingly the amount of funding and resources allocated to the various areas involved in its implementation will be kept under regular review.