Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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23. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will make provision for family members over 18 years of age and those in a more extended family to be included in family reunification visas for persons who are here as part of the Irish refugee protection programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44222/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP), allows for Syrians and other eligible nationalities to benefit from resettlement and relocation schemes, and offers them protection status in Ireland in their own right including all the rights and privileges that that entails. Family reunification entitlements for those granted International Protection in Ireland are governed by Sections 56 and 57 of the International Protection Act 2015.

Ireland committed to accept approximately 1,040 refugees by the end of 2017 under the resettlement strand of the Programme and this commitment is on track with 785 people already in the State and the remaining 270 people due in early 2018 from Lebanon. Furthermore, I announced on 15 September last that Ireland would pledge to accept 600 programme refugees in 2018. This commitment has been made as part of a new EU Commission and UNHCR resettlement pledging exercise under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, for the period 09 December 2017 – 31 December 2018. Since the conclusion of this pledging exercise, the Commission issued a Resettlement Recommendation on 27 September, which calls for the resettlement of 50,000 refugees between December of this year and the end of October 2019. Member States, like Ireland, who have already made pledges are being encouraged to consider increasing their pledges for the new two-year timeframe of the scheme.

Under the Relocation Strand of the Programme, we will have admitted our full cohort from Greece (1,089) by early 2018. Relocation from Italy has not been possible within the two-year timeframe of the programme due to a refusal by Italy to allow law enforcement officers from other Member States to conduct security assessments of relocation candidates on its soil. Our efforts to resolve this issue are ongoing.

I fully intend to honour our commitment under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme. While the relocation strand has not yielded the expected numbers, together with my Department officials, I have been examining potential new pathways for people in need of protection following the conclusion of the EU programmes. One possibility is through a family reunification measure, for which I intend to bring forward fresh proposals in the near future. Such a programme would concentrate efforts on reunification of immediate family members specifically caught up in conflict zones, and would be in addition to those eligible under the provisions of the International Protection Act 2015.