Minister for Justice Michael McDowell will this week ask the Cabinet to approve a substantial increase in the number of refugees taken into Ireland under a UN resettlement programme.
He will propose that the State take in 200 people per annum, compared to around 40 a year taken in now.
The refugees will be admitted to the State under arrangements to be finalised between the Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has been urging the Government to increase the number it takes in under this programme for several years. Pre-selected refugees accepted in the State under UN resettlement programmes are distinct from those asylum claimants who make their own way to Ireland.
Ireland has taken an annual quota of refugees from abroad since 1998, and prior to that the State took in groups of refugees from Vietnam, Bosnia and Kosovo under a UN programme.
Many of these refugees would be residing in refugee camps operated by the UNHCR, which currently has over nine million such refugees under its care.
It is expected that the 200 people taken in annually will comprise around 50 families. Mr McDowell will also seek Cabinet approval on Wednesday for the establishment of an inter-departmental working group to oversee the arrival and integration of the new refugees into Irish society.
People admitted under the UN's resettlement programme have already established they are refugees in need of international protection. Those who have come to Ireland under the programme in the past come from countries including Afghanistan and Iran, as well as several African states.
The new interdepartmental group will work with existing immigration and refugee agencies including the Reception and Integration Agency and the proposed immigrant integration unit to be set up in the context of the planned establishment of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS).
Once approved by Government, the logistical arrangements for the increased resettlement quota will be finalised over the coming weeks in consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the UNHCR.