Direct Provision campaign
Cover image for One Size Doesn't Fit All_main reportDirect provision is a scheme whereby asylum seekers and people seeking other forms of protection are provided with accommodation on a full board basis with all their basic needs apparently provided for directly. Direct provision residents receive a weekly payment of €19.10 for an adult and €9.60 for a child.
In November 1999 direct provision and dispersal was introduced as a pilot scheme to alleviate a housing shortage in the Eastern Health Board area. In April 2000 it was implemented as a national scheme and ten years later it remains in place.
FLAC has opposed the direct provision and dispersal scheme since its inception.
Campaign Resources
In 2003, FLAC published Direct Discrimination?, a report on the direct provision and dispersal system which concluded the system "is gravely detrimental to the human rights of a group of people lawfully present in the country and to whom the government has moral and legal obligations under national and international law".
To mark the tenth anniversary of direct provision and dispersal, FLAC published One Size Doesn't Fit All: a legal analysis of the direct provision and dispersal system in Ireland, 10 years on. The main findings of the report and recommendations are also contained in an Executive Summary. Also, you can read a presentation by Saoirse Brady, FLAC Policy & Campaigns Officer, from the launch on 18 February 2010.
Click on the image to read a caption and click on it again to return to the slideshow.
A regional launch took place in Limerick on 22 February, hosted by Doras Luimni, and a second launch was hosted by Mayo Intercultural Action in Castlebar, Co Mayo on 12 April.
The research analyses the state's treatment of asylum seekers awaiting decisions on their status and highlights the failure to respect the basic human rights of people who have come to Ireland seeking protection from persecution in their home countries. FLAC is calling for the abolition of direct provision but, failing this, asks the government to operate the system with greater transparency and accountability and to respect the fundamental human rights of those in the system.
The report also contains an examination of social welfare law as it pertains to direct provision residents. In a number of social welfare cases FLAC sought to clarify the application of the Habitual Residence Condition to direct provision residents by using the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This casework stemmed from the campaign to restore universal Child Benefit which was launched by FLAC in November 2006. The political campaign evolved into one of strategic casework culminating in a total of nine decisions by the Chief Social Welfare Appeals Officer. For more information see our briefing notes issued in September 2009 and updated in December 2009. In light of a change in the legislation, an additional note was issued in December. The following Powerpoint presentation provides a summary of the HRC, the decisions of the Chief Appeals Officer and the subsequent changes in the law.
To counter the myths and untruths about asylum seekers, we have developed a short factsheet and a Frequently Asked Questions document will be available shortly.
FLAC was invited to make a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights in July 2010. The Committee debate can be accessed here. FLAC also sent a letter to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children enclosing briefing materials in advance of members' visits to direct provision accommodation centres in Monaghan and Mosney on 22 July 2010.
The Law Society Gazette and Human Rights in Ireland blog have both published articles by FLAC about the report.
Further reading
AkiDwA, the African women's network also published a report in March 2010. Entitled Am Only Saying It Now, the report raises issues of concern to the women and children living in direct provision.
Take Action
FLAC is currently running a campaign to allow people to protest the transfer of people from Mosney direct provision centre in July 2010. You can download a background note on the transfer and then send an e-mail to Minister for Justice and Law Reform Dermot Ahern TD and the Reception and Integration Agency at RIA_Inbox@justice.ie (please send a copy of your mail by cc to FLAC at campaigns@flac.ie).
FLAC, as well as a number of other NGOs, have also sent Minister Ahern an open letter regarding the reansfer of over 100 asylum seekers from Mosney.
Open letter to Minister Ahern
Dermot Ahern
Minister for Justice and Law Reform
Department of Justice and Law Reform
94 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2
26 August 2010
Open Letter to the Minister of the Department of Justice and Law Reform on behalf of the undersigned NGOs on the decision of the Reception and Integration Agency to transfer residents of Mosney to Hatch Hall
Dear Mr. Ahern,
In reference to Dáil Question No 196 addressed to the Minister for Justice and Law Reform (Mr. Ahern) by Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin written on 7 July 2010, it was noted that the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) is responsible for the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers. It also noted that the Agency itself is a multi-agency unit with staff seconded to it from other government bodies, including the Health Service Executive.
RIA is responsible for the accommodation and feeding of asylum seekers in accordance with international and European law. It is Ireland's responsibility to provide accommodation to those seeking protection in accordance with the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in such a way that human dignity is protected.
The Oireachtas Health Committee visited two accommodation centres, Mosney and Monaghan, on the 22nd of July. It was found that residents in Monaghan were living in cramped conditions in a building not intended for long-term occupancy. The Committee found that complaints from residents at Mosney, however, were not about the accommodation centre itself or the managers, but rather the length of time spent awaiting a decision on their application for protection or leave to remain.
Mosney residents were given less than one week's notice to move to Hatch Hall in Dublin, despite attempts by various professionals, including doctors, at least 2 months prior to the transfer notices, to elicit information about the proposed transfers and the offer of assistance with the process. The Health Committee met with doctors at Mosney who stressed the need for a proper assessment of the residents' needs in order to identify those for whom the transfer might prove to be severely detrimental. Many of the residents are reluctant to move because they have close connections in and around Mosney and therefore a community of support. In addition, as all residents would have lived in at least one other accommodation centre since arriving in Ireland and are aware of the conditions in the other centres, they saw this transfer as a backward step with no explanation or reasons for it that would justify such disruption.
RIA's decision to go ahead with the transfers is disruptive and gives rise to concerns over access to medical services. Hatch Hall is being used as a long term accommodation centre without the option of residents being able to apply for an independent medical card. Residents, some with quite specialised health issues, would be limited to the four, on-site, general practitioners. The disruption to health care could itself lead to an exacerbation of problems both for the individuals concerned and for the state.
We are aware of the financial pressures upon the Department of Justice and the need to reduce expenditure and hope that you would recognise that the delays in the asylum process and the Direct Provision system itself should be the targets for the Department, not the vulnerable adults who have been subjected to displacement and delays for many years.
In addition, this matter was previously raised by NGOs as part of the working group established by RIA in 2007-2008 to review and update the complaints procedure available to asylum seekers in Ireland. Representatives from the organisations raised the issue of agreeing an appropriate protocol in relation to the transfer of asylum seekers living in direct provision accommodation in order that any further unnecessary anxiety and stress is avoided to people living for extended periods in these circumstances. There is no evidence that these recommendations have been taken into account.
As a long term goal, it is the position of the undersigned that the administrative system for accommodating asylum seekers should be provided for in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 in order to ensure that the policy is regulated under legislation to allow for review in the hopes of improving the conditions for asylum seekers who wish to seek protection in a fair and transparent system in line with international and European law.
The undersigned NGOs disagree with the upheaval of asylum seekers en masse and submit this letter in support of residents who do not wish to leave Mosney, an accommodation centre which has become home for many.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our comments.
Yours Sincerely,
Sue Conlan, Chief Executive
Irish Refugee Council
2nd Floor Ballast House
Aston Quay
Dublin 2
Josephine Ahern, Director
Integration Centre
1st&2nd Floors
18 Dame Street
Dublin 2
Salome Mbugua, Chief Executive
AkiDwA
9B Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1
Sr Joan Roddy, Director
Refugee and Migrant Project
Columba Centre
Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Conor Hickey, Director
Crosscare
Clonliffe College
Clonliffe Road
Dublin 3
Fiona Finn, Chief Executive
Nasc
Enterprise House
35 Mary Street
Cork
Michelle Rooney, Project Co-ordinator
Mayo Intercultural Action
Hill House, Mountain View
Castlebar
Co. Mayo
Noeline Blackwell, Director General
FLAC Free Legal Advice Centres
13 Lower Dorset Street
Dublin 1
Colm O'Gorman, Executive Director
Amnesty International Ireland
Ballast House
First Floor
18-21 Westmoreland Street
Dublin 2
Greg Straton, Director
SPIRASI
213 North Circular Road
Phibsboro
Dublin 7
Karen McHugh, Chief Executive
Doras Luimní
Mount St. Vincent
O'Connell Avenue
Limerick
Triona Nic Giolla Choille, Director
Galway Refugee Support Group
Unit 8, No. 2 the Plaza Offices
Headford Road
Galway City
Sinead Smith, Project Manager
Cultúr
St. Mary's Community Centre
Trimgate Street
Navan
Co. Meath