Sir, – When you tell us that over 3,000 asylum seekers are now homeless in Ireland, it needs no real elaboration to conclude that there is no plan in place to deal with the huge increase in asylum applications (“State failed to plan for sudden surge of asylum seekers”, News, January 3rd).
What you do not tell us is why precisely this “sudden surge” took place and why in 2022 there was a 400 per cent increase over 2021 in asylum applications in Ireland compared to the EU average increase of only 64 per cent.
According to Eurostat, some form of international protection was afforded to 80 per cent of Irish applicants as opposed to an average of 49 per cent in other European countries.
As pointed out, the commitment to end direct provision arose from the government’s endorsement of the 2020 Report from the Advisory Group on Direct Provision and Persons in the International Protection Process, which also recommended easy access to housing, employment and legal aid, as well as increased financial payments. This was followed by ministerial announcements in multiple languages effectively advertising Ireland as a country with the most flexible and all-inclusive asylum application system in Europe.
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Again arising from this report, the Minister for Justice introduced the Regularisation Scheme for Long-term Undocumented Migrants which was, in effect, an amnesty and interpreted as such by economic migrants and human traffickers. Around 6,000 people availed of the scheme, which was not replicated by any other European country.
It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that these policy decisions by the government and their promotion created a significant “pull factor” which has resulted in over 30,000 asylum seekers living in State accommodation, 5,000 of whom are certified refugees but are unable to leave that accommodation. Accordingly, it could be described as somewhat disingenuous for the “senior government adviser” to conclude that the last government “dumped this all on Roderic O’Gorman”.
Much better for the NGO community, public bodies, politicians and the Government to accept the fact the current challenges have arisen from what began as well-intended initiatives but ended up as policy failures. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Dublin 12.