Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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339. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the commitments made regarding resettling refugees under the various resettlement and relocation programmes; the number of refugees accommodated to date here under the resettlement and relocation programmes in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28035/19]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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In 2015, as part of Ireland's response to the migration crisis in central and southern Europe, the Government established the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP). Under this programme, the Government committed to accepting up to 4,000 people into the State, primarily through a combination of the EU Relocation Programme and the UNHCR's Refugee Resettlement Programme. The Relocation strand was completed in March 2018 and the IRPP is currently fulfilling its obligation under the Resettlement Programme in Lebanon and Jordan.

Table 1: Commitments and Arrivals as part of the IRPP

To date, a total of 2,529 people have arrived in Ireland under the various strands of the IRPP, 51 of whom are unaccompanied minors. In addition to the above, 5 families (23 people) are due to arrive this week. A further 60 refugees arriving in the coming weeks.

An IRPP mission to Lebanon in March 2019 selected 331 refugees for resettlement to Ireland. A further mission to Jordan later this month will select approximately 300 refugees. This will complete Ireland’s commitment to admit 1,985 programme refugees under the Resettlement strand of the IRPP.The remaining refugees are due to arrive in Ireland during the remainder of 2019.

The IRPP programme also includes the IRPP Humanitarian Admission Programme under which Irish citizens, programme refugees, Convention refugees and persons with subsidiary protection can apply for family members to come to Ireland where those persons are living in the top 10 refugee generating countries. 530 persons are being admitted to Ireland this year under that programme.

Table 2: Persons Accommodated

Of those who have arrived in Ireland to date, 1,942 persons have been provided with permanent housing by local authorities. In addition, 111 persons have been housed in accommodation through the Irish Red Cross. 9 persons are participating in the Community Sponsorship scheme which is an innovative scheme whereby local communities directly support the process of integrating refugees into their communities. Taken together, 2,062 people who arrived under the IRPP have been resettled in communities across Ireland. This represents 88% of the arrivals so far under the resettlement and relocation strands of the programme.