Minister for State: Ireland likely to take more refugees
The Minister for State Aodhan O’Riordan with responsibility for New Communities has said it is likely Ireland will take in more refugees from Syria, as conflict in the war-torn country continues.
The first of the 4,000 asylum seekers due to take refuge here will arrive next month.
However, Minister Aodhan O'Riordan thinks this number will eventually be exceeded.
A taskforce set up to deal with the refugees' arrival is meeting later this afternoon.
Minister of State Aodhan O'Riordan, has said allowing refugee families to stay together will be discussed at today's meeting.
“Well I don’t think we are anywhere near the peak of this crisis, 4,000 is three times what was originally expected of us to take, that number will grow when family reunification is taken into consideration.
“This is not an issue that is going to go away any time soon,” Mr O’Riordan said.
“As the Irish people have said, quite clearly, they expect the Irish Government to be generous in our response to this issue.”
