Cabinet to approve arrival of children from Calais refugee camp
The Cabinet will today approve accepting up to 40 children from the former refugee camp in Calais in France.
Children's Minister Katherine Zappone will outline how the child and family agency TUSLA will oversee the management of the young people.
Last November the Dáil passed an all-party motion that Ireland should accept up to 200 unaccompanied children from the refugee camps in Calais that were being demolished.
This afternoon Minister Zappone will outline the work that has been done to begin accepting child refugees here.
Officials from her department and TUSLA met with their French counterparts last week to organise how the children would be interviewed, validated and legally transferred to Ireland.
She will seek Cabinet approval for establishing a national project office for responding to children who have become separated from loved ones as a result of war, terror or the immigration crisis.
Initially 40 children will come here and placed in foster or residential settings until they are 18.
