TWELVE refugee families
are to be housed in Buncrana and Carndonagh in May
of this year under the Refugee Resettlement
Programme.
Today's announcement follows ongoing engagement
between the Office for the Promotion of Migrant
Integration and Donegal County Council with a view
to resettling 30 migrant families in the county by
the end of 2018.
The programme offers protection to people who have
"fled their country of origin and sought protection
in another country". Services are then provided to
the migrant families by mainstream public service
providers in co-operation with national and local
non-government organisations as well as the
community and voluntary sector.
The council said in a statement today that the first
group of twelve refugee families will arrive in late
May and will be housed in Buncrana and Carndonagh.
"The Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration
(OPMI) has been liaising with relevant public bodies
to make arrangements for provision of relevant
services to the new arrivals in an appropriate and
timely manner and Donegal County Council has been
engaging with the OPMI," the statement said.
"A local Resettlement Inter-Agency Steering Group,
comprised of representatives from relevant public
service providers that will oversee the local
resettlement and integration programme within the
county, has been established.
"The focus of the steering group will be to develop
a co-ordinated and efficient programme to make the
transition and integration as easy as possible.
"While the first group of twelve families are
expected to arrive in the county in late May, it is
not clear when the next group will be arriving but
it is likely to be late 2017 or early in 2018.
Decisions in relation to where they will be settled
will be considered by the steering group as details
of the circumstances and needs of the group become
available." |
