Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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227. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of refugees now relocated or resettled here under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme established in September 2015. [41472/17]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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234. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 40 of 16 February 2017, the number of refugees that have arrived here under the resettlement and relocation programmes in 2016 and to date in 2017, in view of the fact that the Government has pledged to accept a total of 4,000 persons into the State by the end of 2017; the anticipated number to arrive during the last three months of 2017; the plans in place to ensure this commitment will be met by the end of 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41535/17]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 227 and 234 together.

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.

Table 1 sets out the position regarding the assignment of the 4,000.

Table 1: Table of Total Numbers under Government Decision

The relevant instruments - the two Council relocation Decisions and the three separate Government decisions on programme refugees - envisaged an end-2017 time frame for the bulk of the cohort. However, it is important to note that the Government commitment to accept 4,000 people was not time limited.

In summary, as of 2 October 2017, the current numbers of persons that have arrived under both the programme refugee resettlement strand and the relocated asylum seeker strands of the programme are set out in Table 2 and Table 3, respectively: 

Table 2: Resettled Programme Refugees

As regards the programme refugee strand of the IRPP, Ireland had taken in 519 of the original commitment of 520 by the end of 2016, a year ahead of schedule.  Last year the Government doubled its commitment under resettlement to 1,040 and the number of persons who have arrived from Lebanon under refugee resettlement now stands at 785.  A balance of about 270 refugees in Lebanon have been selected, assessed under the programme refugee resettlement strand and will arrive early next year, contingent on a range of factors including processing capacity by  overseas partners and available space in Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres (EROCs) in Ireland.

Table 3: Relocated Asylum Seekers

In terms of the relocation aspect of the IRPP, allocations under the relevant EU Council Decisions are composed of three elements:

- an intake from Greece of 1,089 asylum seekers

- an intake from Italy of 623 asylum seekers and

- an allocation of 910 asylum seekers which has not been assigned by the European Commission to either Italy or Greece.

Ireland has met its commitment to formally pledge for 1,089 people from Greece by the end of this month. 552 of the allocation are already in the State. A further 462 have been assessed and are awaiting transportation, with 68 persons due for arrival in early October and hundreds more over the following months.  Sufficient missions to fill any quota remaining under this strand of the Programme will be scheduled with the Greek authorities.  Lack of cooperation in relation to security assessments by the Italian authorities has prevented any progress being made in relation to the small numbers registered in Italy. However, efforts remain ongoing to try to resolve this impasse. 

In terms of the unallocated portion contained in the two EU Council Decisions referred to above, which in the case of Ireland amounts to  approximately 910 persons,  Ireland cannot access this component because they have not been allocated by the Commission.  Given that the numbers anticipated by the two Council Decisions (160,000) do not actually exist on the ground in either Italy or Greece, in terms of eligible nationalities (in Greece this is overwhelmingly Syrian and in Italy, Eritrean), it is highly unlikely that this element of the Council Decision will be implemented by any Member State.

Ireland is doing everything it can to give effect to the EU relocation Decisions but as can be seen from the above information these Decisions are unlikely to yield the anticipated numbers for reasons entirely outside of Ireland’s control.  In the areas where Ireland has been able to implement its programmes - Lebanon, in the case of programme refugees; and Greece, in the case of relocated asylum seekers - we have been able to meet or surpass its obligations.

The Irish Refugee Protection Programme is working to ensure that all persons selected for relocation are transported to Ireland as soon as possible.  Officials are currently undertaking a full review of the IRPP with a view to establishing how best Ireland’s remaining obligations might be met and through what channels. As a start, I can inform the Deputy that Ireland has made a new commitment to take a further 330 programme refugees on top of its existing commitment to take 1,040.  The 330 additional programme refugees forms part of Ireland's commitment to take 4,000 migrants but is not yet reflected in Table 1 above as Ireland awaits developments at EU level and the completion of the review I have requested after which appropriate decisions can be taken by Government and the necessary adjustments can be made.

I can assure the Deputy that If, despite all Ireland's efforts, the relocation mechanism does not permit Ireland to take in the number of asylum seekers foreseen under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, then the Government commitment to take in 4,000 people remains and Ireland will take in these numbers through other mechanisms.  Decisions taken at EU level with regard to the ongoing migration crisis will of course impact on any such deliberations.