Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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69. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to expand Ireland's refugee programme, particularly in view of the recent study by the Economic and Social Research Institute which finds that Ireland has the capacity to accept more refugees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7830/17]

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 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 from within the EU.

We will be 100% ahead of target numbers on the Resettlement Programme by next September. While there has been challenges at EU level to maximise the functioning of the Relocation aspect of the programme, following my recent visit to Greece, I am satisfied that the numbers coming in under relocation will ramp up to agreed levels in 2017. My emphasis currently is to increase the number of people arriving in Ireland under the mechanisms currently in place. I am satisfied that we are making that progress now to ensure many more people can come to Ireland under our resettlement and relocation programmes. We must focus all our attention to meeting these targets and their needs when they arrive here.

Significant resources are currently being invested in these humanitarian efforts through the various offices in my Department and in other Departments and agencies. As a result we have established functioning mechanisms and associated expertise to deal with resettlement and relocation. Our response to the migrant crisis in terms of accepting refugees is through the IRPP and all available resources are being directed to that Programme in order to meet the commitment entered into. It is essential that we continue our efforts to complete the IRPP successfully before we look to apply that learning and resources to any expansion of our current commitments.