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Distressed migrants arrive
on the Greek island of Lesbos
after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey

Five children die after migrant boats sink

At least five children died when boats carrying migrants sank off Greece today, as rescue workers battled to save more children on the seashore in the latest desperate scenes in Europe's refugee crisis.

News • 28 Oct 15

The United Nations refugee agency, which worked with the EU and non-EU states in the region to formulate yesterday's plan, stressed the need for immediate action to save lives

EU puts forward plan for paid flights for refugees

The European Union plans to persuade refugees to wait in Greece for paid flights to other countries offering asylum rather than risk dangerous winter treks through the Balkans, EU officials have said.

News • 27 Oct 15

Slovenia Prime Minister Miro Cerar sent out a dramatic call to fellow central and eastern leaders in Brussels for emergency talks

Slovenia PM: EU faces collapse over migrant crisis

The European Union faces collapse if the bloc cannot agree on a plan to confront the sudden influx of refugees through the Balkans, Slovenia's prime minister has warned.

News • 25 Oct 15

Migrants queue at a border crossing between slovenia and Croatia

Slovenia to deploy soldiers to Croatian border

The Slovenian government has said soldiers are to help police manage the surge of migrants and refugees from Croatia.

News • 20 Oct 15

A migrant family sit on the ground in the rain at the closed crossing in Trnovec, Croatia

Croatia allows migrants to cross from Serbia

Croatia allowed thousand of migrants who were stuck at the border with Serbia to cross into its territory late this afternoon, having earlier dramatically slowed the number of crossings.

News • 19 Oct 15

The plan aims to improve the lives of two million Syrian refugees in Turkey

EU approves Turkish action plan on migrants

The European Union has offered Turkey a possible €3bn in aid and the prospect of easier travel visas and "re-energised" talks on joining the bloc in return for its help in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

News • 16 Oct 15

237 men and five women were rescued off Tripoli

Defence Forces rescue over 200 off Tripoli

The LÉ Samuel Beckett has rescued 242 people from a wooden barge off the coast of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

News • 05 Oct 15

It is understood around 200 people entered the complex but were arrested by police

Migrants disrupt Channel Tunnel services

Around 200 migrants tried to get into the Channel Tunnel from the French side overnight, clashing with staff and police and forcing a temporary suspension of rail services.

News • 03 Oct 15

Kos is just 4km from Bodrum at its closest, but the journey is dangerous

17 drown as boat bound for Greece sinks off Turkey

Seventeen people drowned when their boat sank this morning off the Turkish coast while headed for the Greek island of Kos, the Anadolu Agency has reported.

News • 28 Sep 15

European Union leaders have agreed to mobilise at least €1bn for refugees in countries neighbouring Syria through UN agencies

No sign militants posing as refugees to reach EU

Dutch authorities have said there was no sign of militant groups systematically using Europe's asylum provisions as a way of smuggling attackers into Europe disguised as refugees.

News • 24 Sep 15

A young girl falls in the water as a boat carrying refugees lands on the beach at Sykamia on the Greek island of Lesbo

Taoiseach urges Irish people to welcome refugees

The Taoiseach has said that refugees coming to Ireland can contribute to the economy and to society and urged people to welcome them.

News • 23 Sep 15

EU ministers expected to agree on a voluntary refugee relocation scheme

EU has met responsibility over refugees - Hollande

Europe has shouldered responsibility for the wave of refugees and migrants reaching its shores, French President Francois Hollande said after EU justice ministers reached agreement on a plan to relocate up to 120,000 people.

News • 22 Sep 15

People wait at Tovarnik station in Croatia for a train to Zagreb

Croatia urges EU to find solution on migration

Croatia has said it can no longer offer refuge to the large numbers of migrants arriving in the country and will move them onwards, challenging the EU to find a policy to receive them.

News • 19 Sep 15

Children play near policemen standing guard at a railway station near the official border between Serbia and Croatia

EU parliament backs refugee relocation plans

The European Parliament has backed plans to relocate 120,000 refugees around the EU to help the frontline states of Greece, Hungary and Italy, in a move that raised pressure on ministers to adopt the proposals next week.

News • 17 Sep 15

Refugees arrive from Hungary after crossing the border in Nickelsdorf, Austria

EIB offering supports to resettle migrants

The European Investment Bank has offered to make a range of financial supports available to countries, including Ireland, who resettle refugees.

News • 11 Sep 15

People wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, in northern Greece

US to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees in next year

US President Barack Obama has directed his administration to prepare to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, the White House has said.

News • 10 Sep 15

Police closed a section of the motorway near Roszke in southeast Hungary

UN chief to host meeting on migration crisis

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged European leaders to act responsibly and humanely toward refugees arriving at their borders and invited leaders to a meeting on migration at the end of this month.

News • 08 Sep 15

David Cameron has pledged to take more refugees currently housed in temporary camps to the UK

UK to take 'thousands' more refugees - Cameron

Britain will take "thousands more" refugees from camps on the borders of war-torn Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.

News • 04 Sep 15

Aylan Al-Kurdi (L) and his brother Galip (R) with their father Abdullah (C)

Father says children slipped through his hands

The father of the young Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach yesterday has said that his children "slipped though [his] hands" as the boat was taking in water en route to Greece.

News • 04 Sep 15

Alan Kelly said Ireland will take its fair share of refugees

Ireland may take thousands of refugees - Kelly

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has said he thinks Ireland will be taking a volume of refugees "in the thousands" in the coming years.

News • 03 Sep 15

Turkish police at the scene where the body of a three-year-old refugee washed up on a beach

Drowned toddler image illustrates migrant crisis

The body of a drowned toddler washed up on the beach in one of Turkey's prime tourist resorts after at least 12 presumed Syrian refugees died trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

News • 02 Sep 15

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin says people are contacting public representatives wanting to know whether Ireland was doing its rightful duty

Govt needs to address refugee crisis - Ó Ríordáin

Minister of State at the Department of Justice Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said history will be very unkind to Ireland if it does not step up to the mark in tackling the refugee crisis.

News • 30 Aug 15

Tens of thousands of people have been trying to make their way to Europe

Police still unsure of number of bodies in lorry

Austrian Police have said it may take until tomorrow to count the number of bodies found in a parked lorry in eastern Austria near the Hungarian border today.

News • 27 Aug 15

Migrant families walk between rails near the border village Roszke, at the Hungarian-Serbian border

Hungary to send more police and army to border

The Hungarian government has said it plans to deploy the army to the country’s border with Serbia, as record numbers of refugees and migrants arrive at the EU member state.

News • 26 Aug 15

50,000 migrants hit Greece by boat from Turkey in July, bringing ripples of Middle Eastern conflicts to Europe's shores

Call for ‘unified’ response to EU refugee crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have called for a "unified" response to the EU refugee crisis.

News • 25 Aug 15

Migrants