Shatter says Ireland may take Libyan refugees

IRELAND is considering taking a handful of Libyan political refugees following a request from Malta for help with looking after about 2,000 who landed on the island following the uprising against the country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi.

At a heated justice ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, Italian minister Roberto Maroni threatened his country would leave the EU because of objections over its handling of 25,000 Tunisian refugees.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said his department had some funding available to provide protection to refugees. “We are giving consideration to what assistance we might give to Malta,” he said.