Immigration continues to be a very topical and complex issue
globally. This year Donald Trump’s US border detention centres, the migrant caravan on
the US-Mexico border and the mass influx of refugees arriving daily across
Europe have dominated headlines. A major contributing factor that led
to the Brexit vote was the promise of Britain ‘taking back control of its
borders’ and the tightening of immigration policy.
Having spent this year paying attention to provision for migrants
on a more international level, I had overlooked the situation in my own home
country. Having just finished watching RTE’s drama ‘Taken Down’ which tackles
the issue of direct provision in Ireland, I wanted to research more about this
issue hence writing this article.
The direct provision system was established in 2000 to house
asylum seekers entering the Irish State in search of international protection.
It was initially only intended to provide accommodation for a six-month period
while people waited an outcome on their application. However in a report issued
in December 2017, it stated that residents were spending an average of 23 months
in direct provision, while 432 people had been in the system for five years or
more. At present it takes an average of 19 months just to be interviewed about
refugee status.
In some of these facilities residents can cook their own
food while others are provided with free canteen meals and receive an allowance
of 21.60 euros per week, adults and children included. School-goers are
entitled to free state-school education, but not free third level education yet.
The majority of asylum seekers living in these centres come from
Pakistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Albania, Malawi,
South Africa, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Syria. Figures from December 2017
show there were 5,096 people living in direct provision last year.
Asylum seekers up till recently have not been allowed to work in Ireland. However there have been a few proposals made by the government this year to try to change that. This February there were changes in rules in keeping with The Employment Permits Act which stated that asylum seekers could work but had to secure a job
that pays a starting salary of €30,000 per annum and they also had to pay
between €500 to €1,000 for a six to 12 month employment permit, which made life
extremely difficult for those in the protection system to find work. However in
July Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan proposed to abolish the employment permit fees
as well as restrictions on professions in which asylum seekers were entitled to
seek work.
Currently applicants must be in the
State for nine months or more to be entitled to work and to have not had a
first decision made on their refugee status.
For the majority of these temporary residents, having fled
from unimaginable circumstances in their home countries we must ask are these
direct provision measures meeting their basic human needs? To spend up to five
years living in crowded, temporary accommodation and with so little money to live on and such a lack of independence it
seems impossible to live a peaceful or dignified life.
Like the majority of developed countries across the world,
governments are struggling to cope with the influx of refugees and asylum
seekers but playing a blame game is not going to solve this issue. While there
is this very basic and flawed accommodation system in place in Ireland for those seeking asylum, the
service could be made a lot more humane and residents who find themselves in
this vulnerable position deserve to be treated in a more dignified manner.
That is why programmes like Taken Down are so important as
they reflect issues in our society and give a voice to those who are currently
being forgotten.
