According to various reports it is highly understood that Ireland will welcome around 20 refugees from Syria before Christmas.
The move to accept the migrants comes as part of the Government’s relocation programme, which was setup recently, it is believed the 20 new arrivals will be the first of many with 2,000 asylum seekers expected to arrive in 2016/2017. The news has been welcomed by the Minister for State, Aodhan O’Riordan, who has said Ireland must do its part to help those in need as those who will be coming here are fleeing war torn countries Mr O’Riordan also said local authorities along with the Red Cross will work together to map out the selected locations.
Mr O’Riordan told reporters: “We are looking at about 20 between now and December which is a small number but our commitment is to take about 2,622 over the next two years and the reason there is a delay is not Ireland’s fault.” “It is because the vast amount of people who are in Italy and Greece, in the refugee camps where we are going to take people from are not applying for asylum because the traffickers are telling them not to do so because they may end up staying in Italy and Greece so we have to overcome that.”