Irish Centre for Human Rights warns against 'endless tinkering' with asylum system

Vivienne Clarke

Ciara Smyth of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway has warned about the “endless tinkering” of the asylum system.

Commenting on plans for reform of the system due to be brought before Cabinet on Wednesday, “even before the print has dried on the old series of reforms”, Ms Smyth questioned “the common narrative” that Ireland was “inundated” with migrants.

“So what we're seeing here really is a kind of an endless tinkering or reform of the asylum system, which in my view very much fuels the idea of crisis," she told RTÉ radio’s Today with David McCullagh show.

"The numbers that we have this year are significantly down on last year. And, you know, even though we feel that we receive a large number in Ireland, our actual share of the EU total is just 1.8 percent.

"So we don't actually receive huge numbers, but the optics of it and this constant talking about asylum as if we receive huge numbers gives the impression that the system is inundated and creaking and unable to respond."

Ms Smyth also questioned the wisdom of the proposal to have asylum seekers contribute to their accommodation costs.

“This policy, I find it a bit incoherent because one of the problems we're having with direct provision is that even people that get recognised as refugees can't exit direct provision because of the housing crisis, of course, but also because they don't have enough money to get a deposit together.

"If you make it harder for local integration, you're simply postponing the durable solution for refugees. And again, it's kind of anti-integration. It's preventing people from actually integrating into our society."

Ms Smyth pointed out the distinction between asylum seekers and economic migrants, and how these two groups are often conflated. She said that the number of asylum seekers was relatively small compared to overall population growth.