Lucinda Creighton says we should look at vacant housing units around the country when figuring out how to house refugees here.

The Renua leader says we should avoid putting people into detention centres in the same style as direct provision.

Speaking on the Newstalk Lunctime panel, she called the government decision to admit 4,000 refugees a 'positive step' from the prior 'shameful' figure of 1,100.

The Dublin Bay South TD is not worried by fears refugees might fail to integrate to Irish culture, and stressed the vast majority of refugees will eventually want to return home: Refugees set to arrive in Ireland in the coming weeks and months “have a real part to play in the economy” and are “not arriving wishing to live off the state,” according to Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, Junior Minister at The Department of Finance.

Speaking to Newstalk Lunchtime, Mr Harris said that according to statistics he is aware of “an overwhelming amount” of refugees are third level graduates. He added that the refugees – looking likely to be mostly from Eritrea and Syria – “are not economic migrants”.

“They’re people escaping the most barbaric and difficult situations.

“They’ve been through an awful trauma and Ireland will play its part,” he added.

In contrast to the typical story of Direct Provision in recent years – which has seen people stuck in the system, and unable to work – for years, the Government have said they believe the refugees will be processed quickly, and will then be able to work and contribute t the economy.

Ireland will take 4,000 refugees over the coming months, with the government currently planning to house them in temporary accommodation. The estimated cost per refugee per year is €12,000, with the European Commission contributing half of that.

With regard to funding the accommodating of the refugees, Mr Harris said Ireland, along with several other EU nations is pushing for all spending on refugees to not be part of any count on deficit and debt targets.

“Any member state spend in relation o the crisis shouldn’t be counted towards deficit and debt targets ... there are some things more important,” he said.

But Mr Harris said the financial considerations were not paramount: “This is a relatively small sum of money, and it’s not even that palatable to put a sum of money on this because the govt’s priority is to help people in an extraordinarily difficult humanitarian situation.”

Listen to Simon Harris TD interview on Lunchtime