Amnesty International says Ireland could and should be doing more to help Syrian refugees. The human rights group has released a report slamming Europe for its "pitiful" response to the crisis.
The European Union has only offered 12,000 places for refugees which is far short of the target of 30,000.
Amnesty says this is just 0.5% of the 2.3 million people who have fled the country. It says only 10 EU member states have offered resettlement or humanitarian admission places to refugees from Syria.
Excluding Germany, the remaining 27 member states have offered to take 2,340 refugee.
France offered 500 places, Spain agreed to take 30 and 18 EU member states - including the UK and Italy - offered no places at all.
Ireland has offered 90 places but Amnesty Ireland Executive Director Colm O'Gorman says the government should be pushing for more action at an EU level.
Amnesty says that as winter approaches, conditions for the 2.2 million people who have fled Syria to neighbouring countries are deteriorating rapidly.
It says that many face violent push-backs by police and coastguards, or detained "for weeks in deplorable conditions".
"Hundreds of people die attempting to cross the Mediterranean every year" it says, citing the incident in October when as many as 650 refugees and migrants died when three boats sank attempting to reach Europe from North Africa.
More than 10,000 refugees from Syria are reported to have arrived along Italy’s coast in the first 10 months of this year.
The bulk of the 2.3 million refugees have fled to five neighbouring countries - Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The arrival of refugees from Syria in Lebanon has increased the population there by nearly 20%.
