Children of immigrants 'not treated equally'

The children of immigrants in Ireland are suffering under the Government's child welfare policy, according to the Free Legal …

The children of immigrants in Ireland are suffering under the Government's child welfare policy, according to the Free Legal Aid Centre (FLAC).

The organisation's director general Noeleen Blackwell warned that lumping immigration and welfare policy together means some children are not getting the financial benefits they are entitled to and in some cases are being punished for the wrongdoings of their parents.

She was speaking following reports that some bogus asylum seekers are defrauding millions of euro from the State after they have left the country.

Social welfare and immigration officials have saved an estimated €25 million from some of the fraud cases.

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However, Ms Blackwell told RTÉ radio's This Week programme that the answer was not to punish children: "This has always been an issue around the children's allowance before we even had immigration into Ireland.

"Why are we giving it to people who are committing fraud? Why are we giving it to criminals who are in jail or who have ripped of the State? The Government has always consistently said, until 2004: 'put the child at the centre of this. Give the payment because the child needs it'.

"If this is a country where we genuinely mean what we say then we don't make those children pay. Whatever frauds may have occurred was not the fault of the children who are residing here."

She continued: "There are a number of children - quite a small number probably - living in Ireland who are not treated equally. They are not getting the children's allowance because of a certain way of interpreting our immigration policy."

"It looks as if no real thought was given to the commitments that the State has to children in Human Rights law practice and no real thought was given to the Government's own policies in relation to lifting children out of poverty."

She warned that some immigrant families, many of whom have been living here for years, still cannot afford to spend the €2 that most children are required to bring to school for projects or trips each week. She said they could also not afford the extra transport costs of sending their children on projects.

"Children's allowance was always a separate benefit. There was no other benefit like it in the State. None that was given for every child living here . . . when we imposed that immigration policy back in 2004 it seems to us that we didn't take into account the children's policies we have."