State must do ‘a lot more’ to allay local fears over asylum housing, says expert group

A Government-appointed expert group has said the State “could and should do a lot more” to allay fears about the arrival of asylum seekers, including avoiding last-minute engagement with communities where it is planning new accommodation centres.

The report by the State’s Expert Advisory Group (EAG) on ending direct provision also argues that all asylum seekers should receive a decision on their application within three-six months, with median times for a first decision currently about one year.

The report, which was submitted to Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman last week and is expected to be published this week, is understood to warn that communities need to be engaged much earlier in the process than has been the case with some centres.

It says “the State could and should do a lot more to allay the fears of communities about the arrival of asylum seekers”.

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It also states that at the same time there is a “need to be more robust in calling out behaviour which amounts to racism” and that the “rigour of the [international protection] process should be explained”, including that there are no “‘unvetted’ males coming into Ireland as IP applicants”, pointing to fingerprinting, photographing and other details provided as part of the process.

It is understood to argue that engagement includes not just elected representatives but also community groups and non-governmental organisations.

Government sources stressed on Sunday that earlier involvement could not amount to a veto on accommodation for asylum seekers or refugees.

The Department of Integration has faced charges from local representatives that it has only informed them of the impending opening of a centre just before people are accommodated, with protests often following.

In Roscrea, where protests began earlier this month, local representatives were sent a briefing note on plans to accommodate 160 international protection applicants on January 11th which outlined that beds would be provided from the next day.

Writing in The Irish Times on Monday, the chairwoman of the EAG said “local communities should be involved as soon as new accommodation centres are under consideration. Long before final decisions are taken, communities need to be informed and involved in discussions about how to provide for and integrate new arrivals”.

Catherine Day, who also chaired an advisory group which authored a 2020 report on accommodating international protection applicants which in turn informed a government White Paper on the topic, wrote that the group had submitted “clear recommendations on what should happen next” to Mr O’Gorman. Ms Day is a former secretary general of the European Commission.

Mr O’Gorman will bring a new plan to Government in the coming weeks, with an emphasis on moving towards a more State-provided accommodation system rather than one which relies on the private sector.

It is understood the Department of Justice will imminently complete a review of countries considered to be safe for the purposes of assessing asylum applications. Two senior Government sources said the expectation was that countries would be added to the list, meaning their applications would be fast tracked and, in the case of a refusal, they would be asked to leave the country sooner.

On application times, the report argues that all applicants should get decisions in the same time frame as those fast-tracked from safe countries. “The aim should be to reach similar processing times [three-six months] for all applicants and to speed up the time taken on appeal, without detriment to the rights of the applicants.

“With faster processing times people will be able to either plan their new lives in Ireland… or to leave Ireland if they are not granted leave to remain.”

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