Frances Fitzgerald regrets ‘slow start’ on migrant resettlement

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has admitted the Government has had a “slow start” in meeting commitments to resettle migrants escaping the Syrian conflict and said that it “can always do more”.

Speaking on the fringes of the first UN summit on refugees and migrants in New York, an initiative co-chaired by Ireland, Ms Fitzgerald said the Government will have resettled 870 migrants by the end of the year. This is well short of a commitment to accept 4,000 people.

“Obviously it has been a slow start but it is outside our control,” she said in an interview.

“The fact that we committed obviously without any obligation to take in 4,000 refugees was important and we will meet that commitment, and we are accelerating meeting it now.”

The Minister for Justice said problems at the so-called hot spots set up for the arrival of migrants on the Greek islands and issues with vetting migrants in Italy had delayed resettlements in Ireland but “hundreds” would be arriving over the course of next year.

“The current programme we are committed to has been much slower than I anticipated but that is changing now,” she said.

Ms Fitzgerald represented the Government at the UN summit where a declaration was adopted by the 193-nation world body pledging to protect the human rights of refugees and migrants and provide a more co-ordinated and humane response to the crisis that has created deep divisions within Europe.

Forced to flee

The agreement, drafted in talks co-chaired by Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN David Donoghue, aims to help the estimated 65 million, including 21 million refugees who have been forced to flee their homes – the largest displacement of people since the second World War.

“The bitter truth is this summit was called because we have been largely failing. Failing the long-suffering people of Syria, in not ending the war in its infancy,” said Zeid R’ad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights.

The declaration faces major political obstacles in its implementation. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday offered a rare admission of failure and apologised for a policy that brought more than one million migrants into the country last year.

“If I could, I would turn back time many, many years to better prepare myself, the federal government and all those in positions of responsibility,” the German leader said.

Aid agencies have been critical of the international response to the Syrian crisis.

The International Rescue Committee has called on Ireland to take 6,116 refugees, or 1,223 a year, over the next five years – far in excess of the 96 resettled in 2014 and 176 in 2015.