A coalition of aid agencies and rights organisations has said the Government must significantly increase the number of refugees it has indicated it will take in.

A race against time is under way to get Ireland ready to open its doors to refugees as warnings mount that preparations need to begin immediately.

Pressure is growing on the Government to act immediately to take in refugees risking death to reach mainland Europe instead of waiting for instructions to come from the EU.

Campaign and voluntary groups believe a grassroots outpouring of shock over the deaths of refugees in the Mediterranean will force a stronger Government response to the crisis.

As the Taoiseach meets with his EU counterparts to discuss the ongoing loss of live in the Mediterranean, we hope he will keep Ireland’s long history of migration in mind.

Last month, the CEO of the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) stepped down from the Ministerial Working Group on Direct Provision and the Protection Process.

All the news you need this lunchtime: 

The newly appointed Ombudsman for Children has said An Garda Síochána should consider appointing a commissioner with special responsibility for children’s issues in policing.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has confirmed that 16 asylum-seeker children aged up to five have died while living in direct provision in the last 13 years.

The Government last night named the new working group charged with reviewing the working of the Direct Provision system for asylum seekers.

Migrant rights groups welcomed news that asylum seekers will be allowed to receive election literature, even though direct provision centres are still no-go zones for candidates.

Amina and myself are almost the same age. We both have grown-up children. We are both grandmothers. We both left our country of birth and are living in Ireland. But because of an accident of birth, our lives could not be more different.

Almost 60% of asylum seekers in State accommodation have been there for more than three years, a new report has found.

Ireland is not accepting as many refugees as its European counterparts.

Police investigating crime will be able to access the fingerprints of asylum seekers for the first time under new rules that should see asylum seekers’ requests dealt with much faster in future.

The State paid out more than €655m over 10 years to firms and individuals providing accommodation for asylum seekers.

The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has today called for a review of the refugee applications system.

Ireland’s high rate of asylum refusal could be linked to the “highly adversarial process” faced by applicants, according to a report being launched today.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald has described as “very complex” a recommendation by the special rapporteur on child protection to seek court intervention in certain child welfare cases.

THE Irish Refugee Council has said an independent complaints process was needed for asylum seekers after a teenage girl was allegedly raped and impregnated by another resident.

THE Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has called for an urgent review of the “inhumane” deportation process after a young mother was detained for deportation just hours after she suffered a miscarriage.

THE Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has called for an urgent review of the “inhumane” deportation process after a young mother was detained for deportation just hours after she suffered what appeared to be a miscarriage.

THE Department of Justice has rejected calls from the Irish Refugee Council for a halt to all deportations in the wake of evidence it claims to have that African nationals were mistreated during deportation from the country on a charter flight.

AS a country we have fought hard to have civil rights respected. Unfortunately, the new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2110 has many aspects which we fear will lead to breaches of civil and fundamental rights of migrants and their family members who are Irish citizens.

IRISH-BORN children only a few months old are being individually placed in the asylum process despite never having left Ireland.

DESPITE a week of protests, the Department of Justice has stated it is committed to moving over 100 asylum seekers at the Mosney accommodation centre, Co Meath, to Dublin.

The current system for accommodating asylum seekers puts their basic human rights at risk and should be scrapped, campaigners said today.