Ireland joins the list of three other EU member States that have in practice applied the principle of burden-sharing and accepted to transfer responsibility for refugees from Malta.  

The transfer was made possible with the co-operation of the various Maltese government agencies involved in this field under the lead of the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs and the Irish Reception and Integration Agency (RIA).   This initiative was the result of successful talks and ongoing collaboration between the two sides, whereby Ireland carried out the selection of the ten refugees and covered the costs of the transfer.   

This transfer was mainly the result of an ongoing co-ordinated campaign, by the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within the EU and international fora, to highlight the fact that Malta cannot be expected to carry the burden of immigration by itself.