Behind the News: Pat Carey, Irish Red Cross

The first group of refugees fleeing war in Syria will arrive here within two weeks, according to Pat Carey, chairman of the Irish Red Cross.

He says that they are most likely to come from the refugee camps in the countries bordering Syria rather than from the large groups of refugees and migrants who have been travelling across Europe.

The Irish Red Cross this week set up a migration-crisis task force to deal with refugees arriving in Ireland.

“We needed to ramp up our level of preparedness. We have 700 trained volunteers ready to offer food, water and shelter – and a listening ear – to people traumatised and mentally and physically exhausted from their experiences,” says Carey, who believes that politicians still don’t know exactly how to respond to the greatest humanitarian disaster of its type since the second World War.

"People are escaping from the most awful atrocities, unimaginable six months ago. Islamic State are beheading people and blowing up monuments which are treasures of the world. Nobody knows the twists and turns that this will take geopolitically, which is why there is uncertainly amongst politicians across Europe."

He doesn’t expect Ireland to see scenes such as those, in the past few weeks, of thousands of people waiting at train stations in Hungary or walking along roads in a desperate attempt to get to Germany.

“We won’t see large groups of people walking down the M1. Those who opt to come here will have made a deliberate choice to come to Ireland. The Irish Red Cross will help them to settle here more permanently.”

What about Tánaiste Joan Burton’s suggestion that Ireland will take 5,000 refugees? Carey says he doesn’t think anyone knows yet exactly how many people will arrive.

“It will be a five-year project, with people coming over a period of time, some of whom will return to their home country and others who will want to be reunited with their families.”

Carey expects Irish people to respond well to the refugees who arrive here. “The vast majority of people will be welcoming. Some will be concerned about whether we will be able to accommodate large numbers – but, really, people will come here in modest numbers.”

Irish people have already offered to accommodate up to 8,000 refugees here.

Carey says that the cultural diversity of Ireland and the fact that some Syrian people live here already will help the new arrivals to settle. “Ireland is a hugely different place than in the 1990s, when the Bosnian refugees came here. People will identify relatively quickly with the trauma these refugees have gone through.”

Members of the Irish Red Cross have already been helping the Greek and Italian Red Cross organisations to deal with the huge numbers of refugees arriving on their shores. “We also have international specialist teams expert in humanitarian law and human rights dealing with these refugees.”