The delay in resettling 28 unaccompanied children from Greece’s Moria refugee camp to Ireland, under a deal agreed by the Government seven months ago, has been described as “appalling” by the chair of the Irish bishops’ Council for Immigrants.
Bishop Denis Brennan called on the Government to act as “quickly and decisively as possible” to bring the children it pledged to relocate to “safety and shelter” and he said he was “deeply saddened” by the latest delay.
Bishop Brennan said the Government’s commitment to resettle the children from Moria following the 8 September fire which engulfed the refugee camp on the island of Lesvos, leaving 13,000 people without shelter, was good news at the time.
However, he said it represented the “bare minimum support and refuge that we should be offering, particularly to unaccompanied children who have suffered so much trauma” in their earliest years.
The fact that seven months had passed and nothing had yet happened was “appalling”, Bishop Brennan criticised and added that for anyone, especially for a child on their own, to spend another day “living in fear in dire conditions in a refugee camp is another day of suffering and trauma that no one should have to endure”.
“Those forced to migrate have already experienced immense hardship to reach camps like the one in Moria,” he stressed and highlighted how the fire had exacerbated the already cramped, unhygienic, and inhumane conditions in the camp.
“We know too how vulnerable unaccompanied minors are to the traps of those who deal in despicable acts like human trafficking. On such an issue we cannot act swiftly enough,” the Bishop challenged.
The Bishop of Ferns also raised the possibility of accommodating “more than a mere 28 unaccompanied minors”.
“In our own country, where so many have emigrated seeking welcome on other shores, let us be generous in responding when we are asked to do the same for others.”
It emerged over the weekend that the Government’s plan to relocate the child refugees had been thrown in doubt over concerns that a deployment of Garda (police) personnel to Greece to perform security checks on the refugees would be “a breach of Employer Health and Safety Regulations” relating to Covid-19.
The current refugee relocation programme is due to conclude by the end of this month and the Department of Children told RTE Radio’s This Week programme that if the deadline for completing the relocation is not met, the children will not be relocated to Ireland.
A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said on Wednesday that the force is “committed to continuing our participation in conjunction with our partners in the EU Relocation Programme”.
Meanwhile the Department of Justice has said that the Gardaí required to take part in the joint mission to Greece with TUSLA, the child and family agency, will be vaccinated. This should resolve Garda health concerns and pave the way for a deployment before the deadline lapses.
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