Ireland's Participation at EU and International Level

Ireland cooperates, participates and contributes at International and EU level in formulating policies and exchanging information on asylum and immigration matters. In this context, the Asylum Policy Division of INIS actively engages with:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: The UNHCR carries out its mandate to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees, in cooperation with the relevant national authorities, by working with government as well as civil society partners to support durable solutions for refugees. The UNHCR also offers its expertise in asylum practice to the asylum determination bodies.

General Directors' Immigration Services Conference: GDISC initiates international projects, focussing on practical cooperation in the field of asylum and migration. There are 33 members; the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey, FYR of Macedonia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Eurostat: Eurostat, located in Luxembourg, is responsible for providing the European Union with a high-quality statistical information service to enable it to compare statistics between countries and regions. Through the Asylum Policy Division, Ireland provides national asylum, immigration and migration statistics to Eurostat. The Central Statistics Office also maintains national migration statistics.

The Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees:  The IGC is an informal, non-decision making forum for information exchange and policy debate on migration issues. It is located in Geneva and composed of 17 participating states, the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and the European Commission. The participating countries are: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA.

The European Migration Network: The European Migratiotion Network is represented in each Member State by a National Contact Point (EMN NCP).  EMN Ireland is the Irish National Contact Point of the European Migration Network and is located at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Click here to return to main Asylum Policy web page.