At least 90 Syrian refugees are set to be housed in County Roscommon in the new year.

Roscommon County Council revealed they’ll be accommodated in social housing throughout the county.

Acting head of housing Derek Caldbeck told yesterday’s meeting of Roscommon County Council that 18 Syrian families, amounting to at least 90 people, will be settled in the county in 2018.

Roughly 50 per cent of them will be children.

This is entirely separate from the emergency reception and orientation centre in Ballaghaderreen.

The first of the families will arrive in Roscommon in the first quarter of 2018, with the remainder arriving later in the year.

They are currently settled in Ireland and were previously in refugee camps in Greece, but will be accommodated in social housing in Roscommon.

Mr Caldbeck was unable to tell councillors exactly where.

Several members expressed concern that the resources wouldn’t be in place for the Syrians or for the towns which accommodate them.

They also fear other people on the housing list could suffer as a result.

But chief executive Eugene Cummins told councillors to stop making an issue out of something that doesn’t exist, a week before Christmas.

He says it was a case of priority by morality, but Fianna Fáil councillor Rachel Doherty claimed the CEO’s comments were insulting.