Up to 1,000 Kosovan refugees in need of special care are expected to be identified shortly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to be airlifted to Ireland.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, told an EU justice ministers' meeting in Brussels on Wednesday night that Ireland was prepared to take elderly and sick refugees, as well as lone children and others in need of special care. The refugees will be given protection for as long as they need it, according to the Department of Justice.
The Department has identified 1,000 places in privately-owned accommodation such as bed and breakfasts and guesthouses as suitable for housing refugees.
The Government will consider taking a higher number as time goes on, depending on need and available accommodation, a spokesman for the Department confirmed yesterday.
At Tuesday night's meeting Mr O'Donoghue said he supported the view that a mass airlift of refugees was the wrong response to the humanitarian crisis. The more appropriate response, he said, was to give refugees aid and support in the region rather than dispersing them.
This was the consensus view. A statement after the meeting of the 15 ministers said that to organise a mass airlift would reinforce their displacement from Kosovo, and send the wrong signal to the Milosevic regime which had ejected them.
The justice ministers also rejected a proposal, strongly supported by Germany, that national quotas of Kosovan refugees be set. European states will now take refugees on a voluntary basis. Germany has offered to take 10,000, Denmark 1,200 and Ireland an initial 1,000.
Other states will also take refugees, but the main EU humanitarian effort will be concentrated on providing emergency aid in Macedonia and Albania.
The UNHCR has been asked to identify refugees in need of special treatment who are willing to travel to other European states for temporary care. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said yesterday that the Government is awaiting news from the UNHCR before taking further steps.
Slovenia, which broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, said yesterday it would take in 1,600 refugees from Kosovo.
Finland pledged fresh funds yesterday after local media accused the government of indifference. The government said it would contribute $10 million (about £6m).