Syrian refugees set to arrive in Ireland
Some 17 Syrians, involving people with serious medical cases along with their families, have already arrived. They include two children who underwent medical treatment on landing in the country.
Amnesty Ireland has welcomed Ireland’s contribution to resettling Syrian refugees and the €26m in humanitarian aid to the country since 2011.
But it wants the Government to push the rest of the European Union to do much more to assist the three million Syrians who have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
Amnesty Ireland director Colm O’Gorman said the EU is taking less than 100,000 refugees, forcing others to embark on “perilous journeys” to get in illegally, which was “costing so many lives”.
Figures provided by the Department of Justice to the Irish Examiner show that 90 Syrians are being admitted here under the permanent resettlement programme and that 17 had so far arrived.
“These were serious medical cases and their immediate families who had taken refuge in Lebanon,” said a spokesman.
He said the balance were expected to arrive by the end of October and that most of these cases would be coming from Jordan.
Responding Mr O’Gorman said: “We welcome Ireland’s Syrian resettlement programme and its generous humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in the region. However, we are urging all European states to take more.”
“Refugees must be provided with more ways to enter the EU safely and legally so that they are not forced to embark on perilous journeys that are costing so many lives, or turned back from Europe’s borders. This is an issue that can only be resolved by all EU states collectively,” he added.
Defence Minister Simon Coveney yesterday said Irish troops in the Golan Heights were “safe” and that they would remain on unless “circumstances changed dramatically”.
He told the Irish Examiner he was getting “regular updates,” but insisted there was no “immediate threat” to the 129 Irish peacekeepers in the demilitarised zone, which separates the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights and the rest of Syria.
Last night the Defence Forces confirmed there had been “a number” of engagements between armed elements in the Golan Heights in the last 36 hours and that the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) commander had deployed the Force Commanders Reserve, consisting of Irish personnel, in response.
Mr Coveney’s comments follow increased fighting between rebel groups and the Syrian army at a border crossing and the confirmed kidnapping of 43 UN troops on Wednesday, none of them Irish.
Some media reports have said a coalition of Syrian rebel groups, including al-Qaida offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra, were involved. The Irish 44th Infantry Group is based in Camp Faouar, 15kms from the crossing, at the village of Al Qunaytirah.
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