The Government has approved a programme of education and training, research and public awareness aimed at furthering the integration of refugees into Irish society.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, said yesterday that the Government had accepted the recommendations of an inter-departmental working group on the integration of those who have been granted refugee status or given leave to remain in the State on humanitarian or family-reunification grounds.
The first recommendation is the establishment of an organisational structure which would co-ordinate the work of various Government departments, NGOs and community groups in helping refugees to integrate.
A Directorate of Asylum Support Services was established by the Government in November 1999 and will be responsible for co-ordinating the implementation of the recommendations, the Minister said.
"We can't expect people from culturally diverse backgrounds to simply fit in to Irish society without taking positive steps to facilitate their integration into a new country and culture", he asserted.
"The key guiding principles for integration policy in Ireland will be independence, empowerment, inclusiveness and equality."
The terms of reference of the directorate will include the development of a strategy for integration, development of initiatives with NGOs and other voluntary groups, the co-ordination of the allocation of State funds, the assessment of opportunities to obtain EU funding, and monitoring and research.
Mr O'Donoghue also said that he would shortly be establishing a refugee advisory board comprised of representatives of the relevant Government departments and refugee interest groups.
The report also recommends a strategy to raise public awareness on issues affecting refugees. It suggests giving a central role to the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism in doing so, complemented by refugee-specific public education.
On provision of services, the report says that information should be made available in nine languages initially - Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croat and Vietnamese. Preparing information leaflets in each of these languages would incur translation costs of between £80 and £120 per language.
The services to be provided should include language assessment and training, assessment of skills and, where necessary, training and education.
The working group also recommended that research should be carried out on the specific needs of refugees and on the attitudes of Irish people towards them.
The areas of research among refugees should include employment status, income levels, housing situation, language skills, qualifications, participation in education or training, social involvement in local communities, experience of racism and service provision.
This research should be carried out among refugees in a Dublin inner-city area, a Dublin suburban area and a rural area, with matching research being conducted among Irish people living in each of the chosen areas.
A survey should be carried out also among a cross-section of the population as a whole in order to compare attitudes among people generally with those of people who have regular contact with refugees.
The co-ordinating group conducting this research should also examine the integration policies of other EU member-states, according to the report. It recommended that the research project should be completed within a period of three to four months.