Ireland’s Immigration Crisis
On 10 September 2015, as part of Ireland’s response to the migration crisis in central and southern Europe, the Government established the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP). Under this programme, the IRPP has seen the arrival of over 4,000 refugees under various resettlement strands, the largest of which is the UNHCR led programme. • In December 2019, the second phase of the IRPP (IRPP II) was put in place to welcome up to 2,900 refugees through the UNHCR programme between 2020 and 2023 through a combination of resettlement and new community sponsorship initiatives. The new phase planned for 650 UNHCR resettlements in 2020, 700 in 2021, 750 in 2022 and 800 in 2023. This commitment was to be made up of a majority of Syrian refugees resident in Jordan and Lebanon. • Significant challenges in meeting these targets over the course of 2020, 2021, 2022 with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on resettlement pathways, the IRPPs support for the arrival of almost 560 refugees from Afghanistan Credit to : James Collins IRELAND