Updated at 1.20pm

THE BISHOP OF Elphin has called on parishioners in his diocese to start identifying accommodation that could be used to house refugees.

Bishop Kevin Doran said today’s appeal was prompted by parishioners’ desire to do something to help those fleeing war and terror in the Middle East.

He said he was asking priests and parishioners to work together to identify potential homes “be it a vacant house or a granny flat”.

His comments follow remarks on the migrant crisis by Pope Francis yesterday.

Speaking at the end of Angelus prayers in Rome, the Pontiff said every parish “every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe [should] host a family, starting from my diocese of Rome”.

“The two parishes in the Vatican these days will welcome two families of refugees,” he added.

Bishop Doran told Today with Sean O’Rourke he had been talking to people in his diocese about the idea in recent days and that it appeared the issue was “something that requires a more immediate response than there has been to date”.

Locals had told him “God, we have to do something for these people”.

He said he was sending out information forms to priests to hand out to parishioners, on which they could identify potential properties.

“It seems to me if we could quantify what was there and the quality of it – is there a working bathroom and toilet, or are there cooking facilities – that we could then work in partnership with the local authorities and with other voluntary bodies that would have experience in this area to try to match up needs with availability.”

Doran said it wasn’t something the Church would be working on in isolation, and added that if the initiative worked it was possible that a similar scheme could be used to house homeless people in Ireland.

A woman carries her child as they arrive at the main train station in Munich, Germany, on Saturday. Source: Michael Probst

Vacant buildings

Meanwhile, the government has said state property is being audited to check if there are any vacant buildings that could be used to house refugees coming to Ireland.

Such properties include former garda stations, care homes and army barracks.