Approach to integration must be 'context specific'

Ireland's approach to integration can be informed by other countries' experiences but must be founded on a clear understanding of Irish specificity, according to the most senior civil servant working in the field.

John Haskins, who is head of the Integration, Reception and Immigration Policy Agency, said integration was "context specific" and required an understanding of "what immigrants are integrating into".

"When we talk about a middle way between a type of multiculturalism and assimilation, we're looking at the two extremes but we're recognising that there has to be elements which actually bind us together as an individual society.

"The challenge is to find those elements, because they're not obvious," he said.

"Every country has to cherish its roots . . . People talk about 'them' understanding 'us', and 'we' also have to understand 'them', but perhaps there's a deeper idea there, which is the need for 'us' to understand 'us'. That's one of the big challenges.

"And if we talk about integration, it implies that we integrate into something. What is that? Otherwise, there's a danger that the concept of integration stops making sense."

Mr Haskins said his office had identified a number of "high leverage" areas that included language learning, interpreting and information provision, while across all areas particular attention would be focused on the young. Among the other priorities for his office were the need to deepen civic participation and develop research on Ireland's new communities.

In a separate discussion of the impact of migration on the labour market, the general secretary of Ictu, David Begg, warned that the clear benefits of immigration should not lead to complacency.

While welcoming progress made in Towards 2016, Mr Begg said the regulation of employment agencies was a serious matter that threatened many of the gains already made. At a global level, he said, the International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families gave significant rights to migrant workers. Of those that have ratified it, however, all are migrant-sending states.