Updated 10.55

America will take an extra 15,000 refugees this year, the Secretary of State has confirmed.

The new intake will bring the number of refugees the US will accept this year to 85,000, up from 70,000 last year. 

John Kerry has said the US will aim to take in 100,000 next year.

He took the opportunity to refer to his country's reputation as "a land of second chances and a beacon of hope".

Secretary Kerry was speaking after a meeting in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Germany has led the world in its response to the current humanitarian crisis, opening its borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees - for a time. They have now been closed and normal rules apply again.

Meanwhile, European countries are trying to reach agreement on the redistribution of refugees who have arrived since the beginning of the summer.

Four million Syrians have fled their country because of conflict in recent years.

Ireland has agreed to take about 6,000 refugees.

The first of those people have begun to arrive at the Hazel hotel in Monasterevin, but the majority of the group will not fly in until Europe has agree how to split its intake.