Following consideration of a memorandum dated 14th January, 1954,¹ submitted by the Minister for External Affairs and a memorandum dated the 21st January 1954, submitted by the Minister for Finance² relative to an appeal received by the Minister for External Affairs from the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees for the admission to Ireland of certain refugees at present in northern China, it was decided

1. that the Irish Red Cross Society should be requested to enter into negotiations with the High Commissioner with a view to making arrangements for the selection, reception and subsequent care and maintenance of a group of twenty of the refugees and for their subsequent replacement, as vacancies arise, until such time as the total number of refugees admitted amounts to forty; and
2. that the Society should, if necessary, be indemnified from State funds to the extent of not more than £5,000 a year in respect of the cost of maintaining the refugees in this country and that any payments necessary in this connexion be made through the medium of the annual Grant-in-Aid to the Society from the Vote for Defence.