The full text of the statement issued yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, on immigration and asylum issues said:
The Government today considered a further report on refugee, asylum and immigration matters from the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr John O'Donoghue, TD. The report contains an outline of progress made (and developments planned) on foot of earlier Government decisions. Arising from its consideration of the issues, Minister O'Donoghue has announced a number of major new initiatives put to Government by him to address asylum-related issues.
1. Establishment of a new Agency to deal with the Reception of Asylum Seekers and the Integration of Refugees.
On foot of its earlier decision that the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Integration should form the framework for integration policy in Ireland and should be implemented, the Government has now approved the necessary organisation structure for this purpose.
Responsibility for integration of refugees and asylum-seekers will, in the short term, be handled by the Directorate for Asylum Support Services established last year by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Government also agreed to the Minister's proposals to establish a Statutory Agency to be called the Reception and Integration Agency, under the aegis of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Directorate (and, later the proposed Agency) will have the following functions:
planning and co-ordinating the provision of services to both asylum-seekers and refugees;
co-ordinating and implementing integration policy for all refugees and persons who, though not refugees, are granted leave to remain; and
responding to crisis situations which result in relatively large numbers of refugees arriving in Ireland within a short period of time.
The existing Refugee Agency (which reports to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and currently deals only with "Programme" refugees, for example, those invited here as part of the State's response to the conflict in the Balkans) will be incorporated in the short term into the Directorate and into the Reception and Integration Agency when established.
The proposed Reception and Integration Agency will report to a Statutory Board consisting of representatives of relevant Government Departments.
2. Accommodation - short-term and longer-term 4,000 permanent spaces to be constructed
The Government fully acknowledges and accepts its responsibility to provide shelter and support for asylum-seekers. (Those who are actually granted refugee status, of course, have the same rights as all other citizens as regards accommodation, welfare payments, employment etc.).
Between November, 1999, and 24 March, 2000, over 5,700 applications for asylum were received. In the same period, approximately 1,300 of these have been located throughout the country, the balance of approximately 4,400 have been located in Dublin.
On the basis of the current inflow of applicants - and allowing for the speeding up generally of the assessment process - the estimated accommodation requirements this year will be for a further 8,000 places approximately.
The ideal way to meet this requirement, obviously, is by providing permanently built accommodation and this is what the Government plans to do. In this respect, the Government has decided that permanent accommodation for 4,000 asylum-seekers is to be constructed as quickly as possible. However, the construction of permanent accommodation units will inevitably take some time and the Government is, therefore, obliged to examine various options for short-to-medium term accommodation, given that the demand is immediate - and growing.
Following advertisements for the supply of accommodation which were placed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform through the media, it is clear that a sufficient supply of suitable privately owned accommodation is not available to meet the accommodation needs of asylum-seekers.
Other measures taken by the Department include the purchase of hotels (one already purchased in Dublin with 2 in train outside Dublin) and other accommodation centres. These will be used to accommodate refugee applicants on a short-term basis (not more than 6 months) while their applications are being processed. Current indications are that about 2,000 places will be provided in this way within the next 6 to 12 months.
Although the Government is reluctant to contemplate options other than permanently built accommodation, the reality is that, given the shortage generally of accommodation, domestically, there is no choice but to look to other solutions to meet demand in the short-to-medium term. Accordingly over the period immediately ahead, the intention is to provide short-to-medium term accommodation for refugee applicants as follows:
prefabricated system built - 4,000
hotels/guesthouses/hostels - 2,000
mobile homes - 1,000
flotels - 1,000
The detailed implementation of these plans will be a matter in the first instance for the existing Directorate for Asylum Support Services (responsibility will transfer to the Reception and Integration Agency, when established).
All of the short-to-medium accommodation mentioned above will be provided on a full-board basis, supplemented by welfare payments of £15 p.w. for each adult and £7.50 per week for each child. The provision of food and other necessary services (laundry etc.) will be contracted out to private suppliers.
The Government also decided that asylum-seekers should be dispersed throughout the Dublin area as well as throughout the country.
3. Accelerating the Asylum Process
The Government noted that the current rate of asylum applications is approximately 1,000 per month or about 50 new applications being made on average each working day. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, having considered the advice of the Attorney General and the requirements of the UNHCR, has further streamlined the procedures for processing asylum applications. The key objective in this respect is to minimise the scope for abuse of the procedures to the greatest extent possible.
One effect of the changes made is that those whose applications for refugee status are well founded will be quickly identified, will have their cases processed and thereby avoid having to wait long periods to qualify formally as refugees. For those whose applications are manifestly unfounded, on the other hand, it will mean an earlier refusal of refugee status.
Persons whose applications are deemed to be manifestly unfounded have the opportunity to appeal to the independent Appeals Authorities (i.e. independent individuals appointed to hear asylum appeals) and to have legal assistance for that purpose. All refusals on the basis that a claim is manifestly unfounded are notified to UNHCR which is entitled to submit comments to the Appeals Authority in each case.
Overall, the effect of changes made in relation to well founded and unfounded applications will be to speed up the application process in the interests of greater fairness to all. The Government noted, however, that there is a limit to which the asylum process can be speeded up, given the need to comply with international obligations and domestic law and the rights of applicants to pursue their rights and interests through the Courts.
4. Appeals
As part of the process of speeding up the processing of asylum applications, three new Appeals Authorities have recently been appointed, which brings the total number of Appeals Authorities to nine. The Government noted that arrangements are also in train to appoint a number of additional Appeals Authorities shortly.
5. Deportations - Social Welfare Payments
The Government noted that, although the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has made over 300 deportation orders since the coming into operation of the Immigration Act 1999, only 19 have been implemented.
Of those which have not yet been implemented, a number have sought judicial review and a number of others are not at their last known address. The Government has been advised by the Minister that certain measures will be required to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the deportation process.
The Garda authorities have advised that, as the law stands, it is extremely difficult for the gardai to arrange for the deportation of those who decide to evade the deportation process. The Minister, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Garda authorities is giving urgent consideration to this matter and will, if necessary, quickly bring forward amending legislation.
The Government has also agreed that the basic needs of persons, who are the subject of deportation orders, should be provided by way of direct provision while they remain in this jurisdiction.
6. Other matters
The Government made decisions today, also, in regard to accommodation and strengthening of the Refugee Legal Service as well as staff provision in connection with the impending introduction of fingerprinting for asylum-seekers and for the Refugee Documentation and Research Centre.
28 March 2000 The Minister for Justice's full statement is available on www.Ireland.com.