Sir, – It is patently absurd for the chief executive of the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre (Nasc) to conclude that the huge numbers of asylum seekers who present at the International Protection Office, rather than at their point of entry to the State, do so because they fear deportation or because, after fleeing persecution and living for a while in Ireland, they now feel the time is right to submit an asylum application (Letters, April 26th).
To include Ukrainian nationals in this cohort is even more absurd, given that they do not apply for asylum per se, but are required to simply register as genuine Ukrainian citizens in order to avail of the right to remain in this country under the EU directive on temporary protection.
Rather than accusing the Minister for Justice of “further inflaming public opinion”, it is high time that the NGO community engaged with the State to find a way to deal with the abuses in the asylum system which have resulted in genuine refugees from Afghanistan and Syria sleeping on our streets. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Owen Doyle: World Rugby should leave the lineout alone and fix the scrum
Oscars 2025: Was Adrien Brody’s speech the longest ever, was Conan O’Brien funny and eight other key questions
Anjelica Huston: ‘There was no shame to having fun with playing women of a certain age’
‘Where I come from, people don’t do medicine. It’s not on your radar’: how a new generation of doctors is being trained
Dublin 12.
