Hundreds of refugees who returned to Kosovo and Bosnia after being given temporary protection in Ireland are now desperate to come back, according to a Dublin-based support group.
Some 700 Kosovan refugees returned on a phased basis during 2000, with repatriation grants from the Government of £5,000 per adult to help them rebuild their lives and homes.
Only those in exceptional circumstances were allowed to remain in Ireland. Financial hardship and lack of employment opportunities in Kosovo were not considered grounds for remaining in Ireland, in line with United Nations refugee policy.
However, Bosnia/Kosova Ireland Solidarity says almost all the returnees are clamouring to come back. Ms Valerie Hughes said special efforts should be made to allow them to return, either on work permits or on humanitarian grounds.
While praising the Government's care of the groups while they were in Ireland, Ms Hughes said the refugees who returned to their homes had been "abandoned".
"Every day there are people contacting us who want to get back because they are absolutely desperate," she said. The refugees who have a connection with Ireland don't just live happily ever after when they go back and the Irish people are concerned about them still."
Following the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s, Ireland temporarily accepted more than 1,000 refugees from Kosovo and several hundred from Bosnia. Most returned home voluntarily once the political situation had stabilised and they no longer needed protection from the Irish State.
Ms Hughes said: "They went back thinking that it was all hunky-dory and that everything would be sorted out. But they used all the money they received to fix their houses, which were totally destroyed, and now they can't get jobs. Most people, if they could make a life, would stay where they are."
She said such people should be given priority under the immigrant work permit regime. Exceptional cases of humanitarian need should also be allowed to re-enter Ireland.
Ms Hughes cited the case of a 50-year-old Bosnian Muslim, Mr Ismet Mujic, who is living in "appalling conditions" with his teenager daughter and handicapped son. She said she had made representations to Foreign Affairs Minister of State Ms Liz O'Donnell.
The International Crisis Group reported last year that Bosnia's "economic reality is still bleak" and that a "significant proportion" of the population of Kosovo continues to live in poverty.
A spokesman said the Minister was aware of the representations and had been in contact with the Department of Justice, suggesting that it take account of the fact that such people had lived in Ireland previously.