Arrangements are already in place to provide the newly arrived Kosovo refugees with the same welfare, health and education rights as Irish citizens.
According to a spokesman in the Department of Foreign Affairs, interim social welfare payments will be made to the refugees over the next few days. Community Welfare Officers are expected to visit the refugee centres in Killarney and Co Cork to make payments this week.
Under the UNHCR evacuation programme refugees are entitled to work in the State, have a right to education and will be eligible for medical cards and other health services. English language training and cultural orientation programmes will also be provided.
All Kosovan refugees have permission to stay here for one year, but this period can be extended for as long as the need continues.
The centres are being managed by local committees comprising representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs' Irish Refugee Agency, the local health board and local voluntary organisations.
Eight staff from the Southern Health Board have been seconded to the refugee agency. According to a spokeswoman, rooms have been set aside in each of the centres to accommodate the medical screening of all refugees in the days following their arrival.
The transition to a new culture will be made smoother for all refugees with the help of volunteers from the Irish Bosnian community.
According to Mr Haris Pijedic, information officer with the Bosnian Centre in Dublin, six volunteers will help choose and prepare Balkan-style dishes for the refugees during their first days here.
"It is nice that the Bosnian community can help because they have been through similar experiences," he said.
Authorities are also examining ways to provide for the religious needs of the mainly Muslim Kosovans but as yet there are no definite arrangements in place.
Iman Alhussein of the Islamic Centre in Dublin, said yesterday that he plans to lead a delegation from the Muslim community to visit the refugees shortly.
Last night a Muslim representative from Tralee, Dr Elfadik Jaly, was there to greet the refugees at the airport.
A spokesman for the Irish Refugee Agency said that six interpreters had been recruited from the state's Kosovo and Albanian community. One of the interpreters is understood to be the Irish wife of an Albanian resident here.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Health Board said yesterday that full medical care, including immunisation and psychological services would be offered to the refugees. It was finalising arrangements to care for the 150 Kosovans who are due at centres in Kildare and Wicklow on Thursday. Two public health nurses employed by the board travelled to Macedonia yesterday and they will accompany the refugees to Ireland.
The board anticipates that comprehensive pyschological services will be extremely important.