Sir, – Senator Michael McDowell’s article wheels out multiple statements that belie the reality (“Ireland is in no position to accept 25,000 homeless migrants claiming asylum every year”, Opinion & Analysis, August 21st).
I am sure he will have Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell’s July judgement on homeless protection applicants, further to Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s judicial review, on his summer reading list, particularly the comments on homeless protection applicants.
We are a relatively wealthy country on the edge of Europe. We receive a small proportion of Europe’s refugees, and Europe, in turn, receives a relatively small proportion of the world’s refugees. Ireland topped the per capita figure in one month in one year for EU countries, but include European Economic Area countries and it was Iceland that had the most applications. A longer time range is also more accurate: in 2023, Ireland received 1.2 per cent of the EU’s applications; in 2022, it was 1.5 per cent; and in 2021, it was 0.4 per cent.
He also suggests that Ireland is a land of plenty to which people are flocking.
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The reality is different. Men are likely to be homeless on arrival. People seeking protection have been on the same payment (€38.80) for years. Children are excluded from child benefit.
But what about the accommodation they receive? A shared room in a cramped building. Legal aid provision is paltry and nearly inaccessible for people.
Life is hard, and people do not leave their countries lightly.
Regarding people coming from the UK, the Irish Refugee Council was sceptical about Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s figure of 80 per cent. But some context: under the Conservative government, the UK completely reneged on its refugee obligations.
Anyone deemed to have entered the country other than an official resettlement route had their application deemed inadmissible.
Michael McDowell also implies that economic migration is masquerading as protection applications.
Recognition rates, which reflect the percentage of asylum applications that receive decisions granting refugee status and subsidiary protection in Ireland and the EU, are relatively high. Over the last three years in Ireland, the average recognition rate for international protection is 31 per cent, increasing to 51 per cent if permission to remain is included. The successful appeal rate was 31 per cent in 2023. In the EU the recognition rate fluctuates at around 40 per cent.
There also seems to be an internal contradiction in Mr McDowell’s arguments: on the one hand stating that it must be an EU-led approach, but then also wistfully looking across to the UK’s post-Brexit “independence” on these issues (which have simultaneously removed its ability to return people who make an application in another country).
People have every right to ask questions, be sceptical and oppose the issue if they wish. But it is also incumbent upon politicians, including the senator, to look at facts, figures and the global context. – Yours, etc,
NICK HENDERSON,
Chief Executive Officer,
Irish Refugee Council,
Dublin 1.