Eugene Quinn, director, Jesuit Refugee Service The Irish Government should look to resettle and relocate 4,500 refugees by 2020 after only reaching a third of what was committed according to a report by the Irish Refugee and Migrant Council.
Under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, Ireland pledged to resettle 4,000 people over a two year period, so far only one third of them have arrived.
The Pathways to Protection and Inclusion report calls on authorities to make a more coordinated and coherent response to the global migration crisis which has resulted in millions of people being displaced in places such as Syria and Somalia.
Outcomes
Caoimhe Sheridan, Coordinator of the IRMC, said the report “would provide a solid basis to ensure more people reach Ireland safely, improve the integration outcomes of refugees and migrants in Ireland, while also contributing to global efforts to address the fundamental causes of the global displacement of people”. The director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Eugene Quinn, said Ireland should do more to improve legal routes “so that men, women and children, fleeing persecution and conflict, are not forced to undertake life threatening journeys in search of refuge”.
JRS are part of the 23 organisations working in the area of asylum and migration locally, nationally and internationally who are behind the publication of Pathways to Protection and Inclusion.