Sir, - As a recently-formed refugee support group in the West of Ireland, we read with great interest a letter from the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) (February 17th) concerning the Government's policy of dispersal and direct provision for asylum seekers.
From what members of our group have been able to observe in Cong, Co Mayo and Clifden, Co Galway, it is clear that tourist hostel owners have responded with enthusiasm and sensitivity to the Government's initiative. Premises are kept warm and spotlessly clean. Disoriented and often traumatised refugees are made to feel as comfortable as is possible in the circumstances. Local authorities, with equal generosity, are laying on activities where possible, including literacy classes and sporting activities.
But while a holiday hostel makes ideal temporary accommodation for young holidaymakers, the strain on families with babies and young children, or on distressed men and women forced to share cramped rooms with total strangers, is quickly apparent. In one case, a pregnant woman was sleeping on the floor on a four-bunk room, unable to climb to the upper berth. Privacy is totally lacking and, despite the best efforts of the hostel-owners, secure storage space for personal belongings, including confidential documents for presentation at interview, is at a premium.
Asylum-seekers are given full board and £15 a week "pocket money". The return bus fare from Cong to Galway, where Muslim asylum seekers may go to worship, for example, is £6.50. Telephone calls are expensive. Transfer to another centre or to private rented accommodation, where they would at least have the dignity of privacy and the opportunity of catering for themselves, seems not to be compatible with this system of "direct provision". An asylum-seeker's first concern is his or her security in Ireland.
Security means a successful application for refugee status. For this, legal advice and adequate information are essential. Neither is readily available outside Dublin. Added to this, the asylum-seekers we met were being called for interview within two or three weeks of arriving in Ireland. They had barely time to adjust to their surroundings, let alone come to grips with the formalities of the asylum procedure.
Asylum-seekers "dispersed" to the West find themselves facing their decisive interview with Department officials in Dublin - an interview which can last five hours - with little or no preparation and at the end of an equally long bus ride from Mayo or Connemara. In many cases they must make the return trip without having had the time in Dublin to avail of the services of the Refugee Legal Service or to seek legal advice in other places.
While emphasising the huge efforts being made by hostel-owners and local officials, we cannot but deplore the consequences of the Government's dispersal and direct provision policy. - Yours, etc.,
A Crowley (Chair), Refugee Support Group (Westport), Rosmoney, Westport, Co Mayo.