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THE REFORMS IN THE proposed Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill are not a “cure-all”, the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has said.
The latest figures released show “a very low acceptance rate for those claiming subsidiary protection and very long delays from application to decision” it said this week.
Asylum and Subsidiary Protection
According to written responses to parliamentary questions on the numbers of applicants granted international protection, other than asylum, just 1.9 per cent of applicants were granted subsidiary protection between 2008 and 2011. Meanwhile, 3,096 applicants have been in the asylum process for three or more years and 272 people have been waiting for more than seven years.
Sue Conlan, Chief Executive of the IRC said:
The reforms proposed in the most recent version of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill do not address the wider reasons for Ireland’s exceptionally low rate of acceptance for protection applicants, both for asylum and subsidiary protection.
She said the small numbers granted subsidiary protection “signal that there is something wrong in the system for considering protection claims that will not be solved by introducing a single protection procedure, in which both asylum and subsidiary protection applications can be considered together”.
We need to focus on creating procedures that enable the applicant and the decision maker to have a real opportunity to set out thorough and accurate applications at the start of the protection process. In addition, we need an appeals system that is genuinely independent, robust and transparent.
The IRC proposes the introduction of early legal advice for applicants and an appeals mechanism which would reduce the reliance on costly High Court proceedings.
Proposals for reform of the asylum system have been underway for over 10 years and the most recent version, the IRP Bill 2010, has been set aside. The Minister for Justice has stated that a revised bill will be introduced to the Oireachtas at an early date.
Reforms
The main reforms proposed for the area of protection are the introduction of a single protection procedure and a revised tribunal which would hear appeals against decisions to refuse asylum and subsidiary protection. At present, there is no appeal against a refusal to grant subsidiary protection.
The huge delays in the Irish protection system mean years waiting in limbo for applicants. These delays create huge problems for the people in the system and needless costs for the taxpayers as applicants are not allowed to work and are accommodated by the State in Direct Provision centres. The Bill will not address the situation of the thousands of people still living in Direct Provision accommodation.
Cost of direct provision has dropped between 2008 and 2010, when the latest figures are available. In 2008, it was €91.472m; in 2009 it was €86.509m and in 2010 it was €79.073m.
Decisions
“There needs to be some administrative decision taken – what are you going to do with the thousands not affected by the Bill?” said Conlon.
What needs to happen is the Dept of Justice needs to look realistically at whether it is appropriate to continue to push for someone’s deportation when they have been left in the situation for so long.
Some groups, said Conlon, are looking for earned regularisation, where the government looks at the commitment of those awaiting deportation, such as whether they have children who were born in Ireland and being brought up here.
The idea has not been formerly raised by the IRC, but Conlon said that other countries have shown that if you regulate the status, people become taxpayers or potential taxpayers.
In limbo
“Being in limbo is something very difficult to explain unless you have lived in it, said Conlon. She said a woman who had been in the situation for seven years and had three children born in Ireland told her she was “like a robot”. “She was told where to go, almost told what to do or what to eat,” said Conlon.
It begins to take its toll on people’s ability to function properly and be part of the community. If they do get permission to stay they can find it very hard to adapt and get on with life.
They have “effectively been institutionalised” she said, adding that those awaiting deportation are constantly waiting for the “knock on the door”.
It is not an ideal situation. It affects mental health in particular; it affects ability to function.
People have three weeks to leave aslyum and are then on to social welfare housing. “People that work with those people say they are finding [they] are de-skilled and demotivated,” said Conlon.
Conlon added that it is a question of priorities for the government, and as the number of people claiming asylum is dropping it may be seen as a case of “applying money where very few will benefit”. However, the IRC said: “What we are saying is, you can spend less money and do it better”.
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Are charges ever brought against these drivers?
Licence points?
Fines?
Almost every week I get delayed on the Dart due to a bridge strike and it affects 100′s of other commuters too. I would like to know that something is being done.
@Conor Loney: And who takes the blame when the bridge height is lower than than what the sign says?
@Roy Dowling: what bridge is out there thats lower than the sign says .because if thats the case, if you hit the bridge with the right height vehicle for that bridge you could sue the ass off the company
@Roy Dowling: The council engineer who actually measured it in the first place with a steel measuring tape is whipped in his underwear with the aforementioned offending tape until he admits wrongdoing, and then he is forced to wear a sandwich board saying “I am a mathematically illiterate idiot” for a week on the platform of the station.
@Roy Dowling:
Surely you have evidence of this?
@Conor Loney: he was that engineer!
@Roy Dowling: don’t think that happens very often
Laser level on bridge that sets off banks of red flashing lights when a high vehicle approaches.
@Clancy: Belay that competence! Such logical suggestions would never get past SIPTU
“er ouar membars are bein asked to perferm duties dat are outside der contract dere now, so derz gonna have te be an allowance written inte de contract for dah, or else we’ll strike”
@Ryan Carroll: your SIPTU is coming along excellently, though I note you failed to use the % increase phrase. Good work all the same, keep it up and you’ll have many a free dinner ahead.
@Brown Boots: He could throw in a few more “comrades” too.
Surely a type of say limbo bar of same height should be placed on aproach to such bridges. ( as in a fixed bar. Not one that will fall down if truck strkes it. ) Exactly like the ones as you enter some car parks to stop caravans and the likes entering.
@The Viking: but you’d have lads limbo-ing under on the way home from the pub. Also boss, why bring our heritage into it!
@The Viking: I’m afraid you’re very much mistaken. Those bars are not to stop caravans from entering, since such measures would be discriminatory against a minority population in this country. What they are actually are bars for breeding crows to hang out on and find a mate for the breeding season. Although I believe starlings have been know to use them from time to time too – cheeky little monkeys.
Surprised someone hasn’t yet developed an APP to warn drivers they’re approaching a non negotiable bridge.
@Emmet Dillane: They have, it’s called eyesight!
@Emmet Dillane: They have – they’re called road signs. You should keep an eye out for them – they big and yellow and shaped like a diamond.
@Emmet Dillane:
And would the APP be installed on a phone. And what happens if the driver changes vehicle to one which is higher. Onus on the person to change the App setting? If they forget to do this would this create a new problem in which drivers rely on an APP and ignore the road signs? Possible creating more collisions with bridges
@Nick Allen:
All perfectly manageable Nick.
@Emmet Dillane:
Nearly as manageable as getting the driver to read the height sign on every bridge in the country. Should there be an APP for all street signs and should we remove them all?
This subject is brought up regularly on the Journal after each bridge hit and the bars the same height as the bridge and so many meters from each side are usually suggested so why don’t they get the finger out and implement this cheap solution.
@winston smith:
Cheap solution?
How many bridges in Ireland?
Design of said structure?
Cost of manufacture?
Are they vandal proof?
Cost of installation?
Ongoing maintenance and replacement?
Update rules of road
Update driving theory test
Update driving test
A train is delayed and this is national news?? LOL!
@Kieran Conroy:
The journal is a web APP so technically this is global news as opposed to national
“We could be lifted, lifted, lifted. Oh, we could be lifted…” (Lighthouse Family.)
…sighed the bridge.
It really is ridiculous the amount of times the trains are delayed due to bridge strike. I would have thought every truck driver should be well aware of height restrictions on their route. I had something pointed out to me recently though which I never really noticed. In a lot of cases by the time you see the height of the bridge it is too late. After it was pointed out to me I kept an eye open as well and did notice that in some cases you will only see the height of the bridge ON the actual bridge but not before and then there is no way around. We do have a hell of a lot of bridges and I cannot understand why there is no driving app out there which truck drivers can use to calculate the route and which takes into account low bridges and roads with weight restrictions
@sue: bridge strike…train strike… what’s the difference?
I interviewed one of the chiefs in the NRA many year ago as part of a Uni dissertation that I was doing for on bridge management in Ireland, and One of the issue here is that nobody ( Gov depts) wants to manage these existing Bridges because they don’t have the budget to do so. Also there is a debate on who should manage the bridge, whether it is Irish Rail, Local Council or NRA or Waterways Ireland. Political debates as usual.
Use tunnel safety technology
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