Sir, - The recent debacle at the Mount Street premises of the health board's services for asylum-seekers was wholly unacceptable from a human rights perspective and was largely foreseeable. Unfortunately it was all too indicative of the Government's overall approach to the refugee issue.
There is still little in the way of long-term strategy or policy. There seems to be a perception that the arrival of large numbers of asylum-seekers is a crisis that will pass. It is, rather, likely to continue.
Asylum-seekers are shortly to receive vouchers, a system of direct provision that Ireland abandoned for its own nationals over 20 years ago as it was decided by the then government, quite correctly, that it stigmatised an already marginal group. However Ireland has now, in the middle of the biggest boom in the history of the State, felt it necessary to administer such a scheme for those coming to our shores fleeing persecution.
Furthermore, the recent decision to suddenly begin the "dispersal" of asylum-seekers (itself an unfortunate choice of word), without first ensuring that adequate services and resources are in place, could lead to local tensions in the communities chosen by the government.
While the Irish Refugee Council is not opposed in principle to relocating asylum-seekers, it is imperative that safeguards and structures be put in place. - Yours, etc.,
John Daly, Chairperson, Irish Refugee Council, Lower Dominick Street, Dublin 1.