Refugee resettlement targets
Deputy Adams asked when the 4,000 refugee resettlement target would be reached and whether the programme would be accelerated in light of Syria. The Taoiseach said substantial progress had been made, would provide exact numbers later, and praised the Naval Service and rescue work in the Mediterranean.
The programme for Government states that the Government will "offer safe haven for refugees under EU and UN resettlement and relocation programmes, while promoting the integration of refugees in our communities". The crisis was brought home to us not just on our television screens but in the news yesterday that five people, including a child, were found inside a container in County Wexford. These are Kurdish citizens fleeing persecution and war and seeking asylum here.
There is precious little evidence of the Government providing a safe haven in recent years despite the huge crisis for refugees from the Middle East and north Africa fleeing war, famine and poverty. Our Naval Service personnel have done a commendable job. They have saved thousands of lives, but the Government has not matched that. Last year, it committed to accepting 4,000 refugees, which is a very small number relative to the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe that is ongoing, but it failed to reach this number.
Comment on this
Críochnóidh mé anois, a Cheann Comhairle. Fewer than 1,000 have been resettled. Will the Taoiseach indicate when he expects the 4,000 target to be reached, and has the Government discussed how the process of resettlement can be speeded up and whether additional numbers will be taken in the light of the worsening conflict in Syria?
Comment on this
The Minister, Deputy Stanton, has made substantial progress in terms of resettlement and relocation. I can give Deputy Adams the exact numbers that have arrived here and that are in transit later today. The Deputy will understand, in terms of the people found in the container in Wexford, which speaks for itself, the lengths to which those who want to send them here will go. Again, I commend the Naval Service personnel for the 13,000 people they have pulled from the Mediterranean Sea. I believe the experiences of some of the naval personnel in terms of injuries, beatings and sad cases are horrific. That is the reason that, while we are not part of the protocol, we send our Naval Service vessels to the region to assist in that humanitarian mission. I will have the exact figures supplied to Deputy Adams. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, gave them to me yesterday but, unfortunately, I cannot recall them now.