Rite and Reason: Regularisation of their residency can be the only moral response by this State to the plight of long-term asylum-seekers in Ireland, writes Sister Joan Roddy.
Marya and Pascal had always believed that the conflict in their home country would be resolved, if not next month, then surely next year. To leave home had never crossed their minds. Their son and first child, Justin, was born. A year later, Pascal's brother was killed and Marya's parents lost their home and land. And still the war went on. Justin was ready to begin school. The peace they had hoped for seemed farther away than ever.
Slowly, slowly, Marya and Pascal began to question. Although at first too frightening to entertain, the thought of leaving home and homeland gradually became more insistent. Too many dangerous events, touching closely this mother, father and their little son, finally left them with no choice.
Getting to Ireland was not easy. Measured in miles, it was a long road. For mind and heart, however, the journey was immeasurable.
Once here a year passed, and then another, as they awaited a decision on their asylum application. Little by little, initial aspirations and hope for a new life in Ireland gave way to anxiety. Not being allowed to work was hard on Marya and Pascal, accustomed as they were to providing for themselves as well as helping out their extended family. Justin, however, loved school and made new friends.
When their daughter was born in the midlands in 2002, the couple was advised to apply for residency as parents of an Irish child. After almost three years in the country, this seemed a good option. It took less time and the response to such applications was ordinarily positive.
All of that was before the Supreme Court judgment of January 2003 which said that immigrant parents of an Irish child do not have an automatic right to residency. This was a huge blow for Marya and Pascal, as it was for some 11,000 other applicants also awaiting a decision.
Changed regulations left them in a situation of ambiguity, stress and anxiety. All had, in good faith, followed the official procedures in place at the time, and had had their residency applications accepted by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Some 7,000 such applications, made at about the same time and under similar circumstances, had earlier received positive decisions
Those with decisions pending were reassured by the commitment of Minister McDowell - made immediately following the Court judgment - that his Department would consider each application on a case-by-case basis and would not be inflexible or unreasonable.
Now in 2004, the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family, and almost 15 months later, these families, including thousands of Irish children, do not know where they stand. They are not entitled to free legal aid - as has been stated categorically by the Minister.
Clear information on procedures to follow is not available nor are the criteria according to which cases will be decided. Nevertheless, hundreds of applicants have already got letters informing them that the Minister intends to deport them, and it would appear that some have already been deported.
The Minister has repeatedly stated that parents who are being deported will be obliged to take their children with them. This has serious implications since Irish children are bearers of rights under the Irish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, Irish child care law provides that first and paramount consideration be given to the welfare and best interests of children in any matters that affect them.
From an administrative and policy point of view, this group of families is in a special position, as it comprises those who applied for residency before the Supreme Court judgment.
Allowing its members to remain en masse cannot, therefore, create a precedent for future arrivals. It would be a matter of deep concern if this country were to create a precedent by forcing parents either to deny one or more of their children the enjoyment of Irish nationality (their birthright), or see their families broken up by administrative decision.
Meanwhile, Marya and Pascal wait and wait and wait Justin is now in second class and the baby is walking and talking. There, in their home country, the war is in its ninth year and peace seems ever more remote. Here, a decision on their residency seems equally remote. They can neither go back nor move forward. Feelings of confusion, fear and uncertainty fill their sleeping as well as their waking hours.
For them, as for thousands of other families, their lives are on hold. Easter day for them is still in the future. Until their Easter comes, it cannot truly come for any of us.
As Bishop Raymond Field, chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Commission for Justice and Peace, has proposed in a recent letter to Minister McDowell: for this particular group of families, regularisation of their residency is the only moral response.
Sister Joan Roddy is director of the Refugee Project of the Irish Bishops' Commission for Justice & Peace. (Columba Centre, Maynooth. E-mail: refproject@iecon.ie)