It is “deeply concerning” that asylum seekers have reported experiences of being recruited to leaflet and volunteer by the Church of Scientology, Green Party leader and Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has said.
The Irish Times reported on Saturday how Anas Ishtiah, a Jordanian-Palestinian who was staying at the Crooksling tented international protection accommodation centre, was approached by a man who suggested he volunteer with the church.
“He said I’d get a certificate that would help me with my refugee status and give me an advantage to remain in Ireland, and that they would help me with job interviews,” Mr Ishtiah said.
Speaking in Dublin on Saturday, Mr O’Gorman said “international protection applications are examined on the basis of the evidence of whether someone faced persecution in their home country, and anyone alleging otherwise is lying”.
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“I would have a real concern than an organisation is using a prospect of something that is very attractive to international protection applicatants and maybe praying on their vulnerability as well,” he said. “That is deeply concerning.”
Mr O’Gorman said he would speak to officials in his department “because there is no way that sort of exploitation of vulnerable people in order to build the strength of an organisation is acceptable”.
Mr Ishtiah described how he agreed to set up a Crooksling-Scientology WhatsApp group to help recruit other Arabic-speaking asylum seekers in the camp. Up to 200 asylum seekers subsequently joined the group.
“Half the people in Crooksling don’t speak English so I had a chance to be translator for them. I told them the same thing I’d been told, that this would help with their refugee status,” he said.
He rounded up between 30 and 50 men twice a week who were taken by bus into Dublin’s city centre to hand out anti-drug leaflets to passersby. At the end of each day, the men received certificates of participation – a document, they believed, which would help with their asylum claim.
A spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology said “many hundreds” of asylum seekers have volunteered to date. She said they were enthusiastic participants who “eagerly requested letters or certificates to acknowledge their participation, which we provided”.
The church “has never and would never advise any asylum seeker on any legal aspects of their application or circumstances”, she said.
Separately, Mr O’Gorman defended a party colleague after it emerged he had objected to more than 300 houses near his home.
The Irish Independent reported that Green Party TD and candidate for Dublin-South West Francis Noel Duffy objected to plans for 330 homes that were to be built next to his home, complaining that the development “overlooks our kitchen”.
Mr Duffy also said the plans were not in line with the 2014 Ballycullen-Oldcourt Local Area Plan and 2016 Development Plan. A High Court ruling later overturned the permission.
“In this situation, Francis identified that what was being proposed for this area didn’t meet the criteria of a local area plan. An Bord Pleanála’s inspector actually agreed with that particular point,” Mr O’Gorman said.
“So, I think it is legitimate, where a proposal doesn’t meet the planning rules that have been put in an area, that somebody living in that area – and Francis does live in that area – can make a submission in to the local authority.”
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