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	Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone will bring a memo to Cabinet today to start the process of bringing children who were previously based in the Calais refugee camps in France to Ireland.</p>
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	Under the minister&#39;s plans, it is initially proposed that 40 unaccompanied minors will be relocated to Ireland after being assessed in France.</p>
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	A timeframe for their relocation has not yet been agreed.</p>
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	Last November, the D&aacute;il passed an all-party motion mandating the Government to help up to 200 unaccompanied minors who had been affected by the dismantling of the &lsquo;Jungle&rsquo; refugee camp in Calais in October.</p>
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	Ms Zappone also plans to set up a National Project Office to focus on the needs of the children.</p>
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	Officials from the minister&#39;s office, and also the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, last week travelled to France to meet their counterparts to discuss several legal issues and the validation processes for the unaccompanied children to come to Ireland.</p>
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	It is understood Tusla will provide new places for the unaccompanied children, which it is estimated will cost &euro;10m.</p>
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	(Published by RTE.ie on the 10<sup>th</sup> January 2017)</p>
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	https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0110/843806-calais-unaccompanied-minors/</p>
