Madam, - As the general election approaches, many political parties are talking about how their policies will ensure that Ireland continues to develop successfully and how they will deal with the challenges facing the country. But there is a worrying lack of vision regarding Ireland's development as a successful country of immigration.
This is largely because of a lack of agreed, long-term policies on immigration and integration issues and a lack of co-ordination between Government Departments and agencies working in this area.
Currently several Government Departments have a brief in relation to immigration and social inclusion policies and each is responsible for deciding which of the rights, benefits and services it provides are to be made available to different categories of migrants and their families.
There is an urgent need for future work on immigration and integration issues to be co-ordinated and carried out in the context of a clear, national, agreed strategy working to a set of agreed goals, developed alongside planning in other areas such as health, education, infrastructure and housing.
For some time the Immigrant Council of Ireland has been calling for a "whole of Government" approach. In particular we would like the establishment of a robust, high-level cross-departmental structure to co-ordinate the work of all government bodies.
We believe that, for such a structure to be effective, it will need to be co-ordinated by a Minister who is specifically responsible for immigration and integration issues, with a seat at the Cabinet table and enough financial and human resources to drive the process under a clearly defined strategy. A model similar to the Office of the Minister for Children could be considered whereby staff from different Government Departments working on relevant issues are brought together in a coherent and effective way.
We call on all political parties to commit themselves, before the election, to promoting a "whole of Government" approach to immigration by setting up such a structure. This is crucial if we are to rise to the challenge of immigration, support the contribution and participation of migrants living and working among us, and ensure that Irish society develops in the best way possible. - Yours, etc,
Sr STANISLAUS KENNEDY, Founder, Immigrant Council of Ireland, St Andrew Street, Dublin 2.