Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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115. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to continue relocating refugees from Greece in view of the closing of applications for the refugee relocation programme on 26 September 2017. [43177/17]

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 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 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, largely under two different mechanisms, refugee resettlement and asylum seeker relocation.  

With regard to the relocation of asylum seekers from Greece, I can inform the Deputy that the Greek component of the programme is unaffected by the expiry of the two Council relocation Decisions as all the actions necessary for Ireland to take its full allocation from Greece have already been implemented by Ireland working in conjunction with colleagues in the Greek Asylum Service and related bodies. Ireland has met its commitment to formally pledge for 1,089 people from Greece by 26 September 2017. 587 of the allocation are already in the State. A further 428 have been assessed and are awaiting transport arrangements, with 34 persons due for arrival later this week. Hundreds more are due to arrive in the coming months.  Sufficient missions to fill any quota remaining under this strand of the Programme will be scheduled with the Greek authorities. 

By early 2018, Ireland will have admitted its entire cohort from Greece under the relocation programme (1,089) and will have admitted double our original commitment of 520 under the European Commission’s July 2015 Resettlement scheme (1,040). Relocation from Italy has not proven possible within the two-year timeframe of the relocation programme, due to a refusal by the Italian authorities to allow security assessments of candidates on its soil.

Ireland is doing everything it can to give effect to the EU relocation Decisions but as can be seen, these Decisions are unlikely to yield the anticipated numbers for reasons entirely outside of Ireland’s control.

The Irish Refugee Protection Programme is working to ensure that all persons selected for relocation and resettlement are transported to Ireland as soon as possible. Officials are currently undertaking a full review of the IRPP to ensure progress continues, with a view to establishing how best Ireland’s remaining obligations might be met and through what channels. The IRPP is on target to fulfil its commitments to Greece. Ireland expects to be an active participant in current and future pledges in respect of refugees and other vulnerable persons in need of protection. The determination of the Government to deliver on our targets remains absolute.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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116. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the details of the community sponsorship programme for refugees committed to by the Government in September 2017; the progress towards establishing same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43178/17]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I presume that the Deputy is referring to PQ 254 of 3 October 2017 wherein I stated that both I and officials in the Irish Refugee Protection Programme were well disposed to working with colleagues in the NGO sector to develop a viable community sponsorship model as a prospective way of furthering Ireland's resettlement programme and fostering links between host communities and new arrivals.

It would be premature to set out details of what a community sponsorship model might look like as there are many potential forms that it could take and no formal model that Ireland might adopt has yet been put to me, never mind finalised.  However, I have repeatedly stressed in various fora that I am open to such a model being introduced and excited by the potential of such a model to unleash energy at the level of the community which is where integration really occurs.  Both I and officials in the IRPP have met with colleagues in the NGO sector who are working towards developing such a model and officials in the IRPP also have had contacts with officials in other States where such models are in operation.

 In terms of progress towards devising such a programme I would say that it is still early days and that any model would need to be carefully examined before implementation.  I am open to trialing any model to assess its viability prior to a larger roll-out.  The Canadian model is often cited as an example of good practice and it appears to have been highly successful  However, that model makes demands of private sponsors which need to be teased out with reference to an Irish context.  In my view every such programme has to be adapted to the country in which it is situated and should only require sponsors to take on appropriate responsibilities and not responsibilities which should remain within the purview of the State.

 It is too early to say when such a model might be run on a trial basis until a model is advanced that can be considered but I can inform that Deputy that I am hopeful that we can make progress towards this goal in 2018 with a view to developing and rolling out a full community sponsorship programme in the medium term.