Offers of help to be registered in online database

The public and local groups who want to help refugees coming to Ireland will be able to register from next Monday offers of accommodation, and other goods and services, on a dedicated online database created by the Irish Red Cross.

People who have already made offers to other charities and NGOs are also being asked to supply those details to the database as data protection laws mean the information cannot automatically be transferred to it.

The Government asked the Irish Red Cross to collate all public and community offers of help when it launched its Irish Refugee Protection Programme a fortnight ago.