Vietnamese and Bosnian refugees in Ireland suffer high unemployment, poor English-language skills and a high degree of isolation, according to the first detailed survey of their experiences since coming here.
Almost 20 years after the first Vietnamese "boat people" came to Ireland, and five years after the arrival of the first Bosnians, more than half of both communities say they have not mastered English. A quarter of Bosnians and 15 per cent of Vietnamese say they have no English at all.
The result is hardly surprising given that one-third of Vietnamese, and one-fifth of Bosnians, never attended any English-language training.
However, the related problems of poor English, isolation and unemployment are concentrated among older refugees. The report notes the children of both communities are adjusting well to school and says their future seems bright.
Launching the report, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said the findings had implications for the treatment of all refugees. The State should provide language instruction and co-ordinate services for a regular flow of refugees to Ireland.
With the report finding a significant minority of Bosnian and Vietnamese have suffered racist abuse, Ms O'Donnell warned that Irish society would have to "watch it". The Government needed to develop comprehensive policies for welcoming ethnic minorities, and the media, trade unions and schools should be encouraging society to come to terms with the changing environment.
According to the report, the lack of English fluency is crucial in determining refugees' employment chances and their level of integration. In spite of the tiny size of both groups, up to half the Bosnians and Vietnamese surveyed say they talk with people outside their own communities at most only once or twice a month. One-fifth of Bosnians, and one-tenth of Vietnamese, never talk with Irish people.
Most of those surveyed suffered great personal loss in leaving their homeland. Some had only minutes to flee their homes.
The vast majority of Vietnamese intend to stay in Ireland and most have taken Irish citizenship. The Bosnians, victims of a more recent and as yet unresolved conflict, are less certain - one-fifth hope to return home and one-third are unsure what the future holds.
One-third of Bosnians were unemployed, and had been so for over 12 months. Virtually all of those surveyed felt they had the skills to do a more demanding job than the one they were in. Almost half were finding it difficult to make ends meet and most felt their economic circumstances had worsened since coming to Ireland.
The report says these findings strongly rebut the claim that refugees come here as economic migrants.
The jobless rate among Vietnamese was 24 per cent, more than twice the national average. Most respondents said they had little difficulty in getting by financially, though researchers suggest this finding is prompted as much by a concern in Vietnamese culture not to project the family in a bad light as by actual circumstances.
The report, by Mr Cathal O'Regan of the Refugee Resettlement Research Project, is based on interviews carried out for the Refugee Agency last year with 123 refugees from the Bosnian and Vietnamese communities.
Both groups came here as "programme refugees", that is, collectively on the Government's invitation. They differ from asylum-seekers, who usually arrive individually and seek recognition as "convention refugees", under the definition of the 1951 Geneva Convention.
In spite of this difference, the experience of the two communities is widely regarded as a litmus test for the treatment of all refugees in Ireland.
Some 212 Vietnamese "boat people" were invited by the government to Ireland in 1979. Family reunifications and the birth of a second generation in Ireland have brought the number of Vietnamese up to over 600. More than half live in Tallaght and Clondalkin.
The Bosnian community arrived from 1992 on, but numbers over 800 today. Again, more than half the community lives in the Dublin 15 area - "Little Bosnia".
Main points
Most refugees suffered significant financial and personal loss in coming here;
Both communities suffer high unemployment and under-employment;
Reunification with family members outside Ireland is a major concern;
A significant minority of refugees have not learned English;
Lack of language competence has contributed to unemployment and isolation;
A significant minority had experienced racist abuse;
Refugee children are making a good adjustment.
