Sir, - The Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) are deeply concerned at the manner in which the Government's policy of dispersal and direct provision for asylum-seekers is being implemented. While virtually every non-government organisation dealing with refugees and asylum-seekers have rejected, as a matter of principle, the idea of direct provision, most groups have remained open to the notion of voluntary regional resettlement in appropriate circumstances.
The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has embarked on a token consultation process with certain NGOs, but the fact is that dispersal and direct provision are already taking place in a manner which is discriminatory and utterly demeaning of the human dignity of those subjected to this "policy".
Asylum-seekers entering Ireland since late 1999 can expect to be dispersed to hostels outside Dublin in places such as Rathdrum, Birr, Longford, Castleblayney, Falcarragh, Letterkenny, Waterford, Kilkenny, Cashel, Balylickey, Tralee, Glengarriff, Killarney, Sligo, Galway, Clifden, Ennis, Clonakilty and Cong. The basic social welfare payment - supplementary welfare allowance - is being denied to these asylum-seekers where accommodation is provided on a full-board basis. Instead, a meagre weekly cash allowance of £15 for adults and £7.50 for children, intended to cover basic necessities, is provided.
The conditions in some hostels give cause for concern. Many people sleep in cramped dormitory conditions. Where cooking facilities exist they are often substandard and inadequate and little consideration appears to have been given to the dietary needs of those living in the hostels. The effective warehousing of people in such "reception centres" must surely give rise to a degree of moral outrage among the wider Irish community.
It appears that asylum-seekers placed in such accommodation will lose their entitlement to claim social welfare should they transfer to private rented accommodation of their own accord. This completely removes the voluntary element which is a basic prerequisite of any regional resettlement policy. The legal basis for requiring asylum-seekers to remain in a particular place is not clear and the discriminatory treatment of asylum-seekers under the social welfare legislation is of dubious constitutionality and, arguably, contrary to European law.
We know the Government will say that the current practice does not represent settled policy and is simply an emergency response. The tragic fact is that current practice will inevitably become settled policy unless we ask ourselves the question: would this kind of treatment be tolerated if it were applied to Irish citizens? - Yours, etc.,
Maureen Maguire, Solicitor, FLAC, South William Street, Dublin 2.
Donncha O'Connell, Director, ICCL, Lower Dominick Street, Dublin 1.