Refugees "appalled" by growing public criticism

REFUGEES say they are "appalled" by public criticism of the increase in asylum seekers coming to Ireland, as well as by anti immigration remarks made by a number of election candidates.

Antagonism towards refugees has become an election issue in certain Dublin constituencies, while some politicians have been making the running on the issue. The outgoing Fianna Fail TD, Mr Liam Lawlor, has said "floods" of immigrants are coming into Ireland while outgoing Progressive Democrat TD, Ms Helen Keogh, has said some immigrants were "professional beggars".

"Politicians should stop using the refugees as an election issue. It's both shallow and cheap," says Mr Drazen Nozinic, a Serb/Croat from the former Yugoslavia who was granted refugee status in 1993.

"Please judge refugees as individuals, especially if there is something wrong. Of late, there have been cases of generalising, which gives a bad image to the refugees," says one Rwandan asylum seeker who does not wish to be named.

Partly in response to the growing public debate over their presence in Ireland, refugees are trying to set up an association to safeguard their rights.

One of the organisers, Khalid from Iraq, says it is "not a good job" to be a refugee. "I didn't come here to take money. I didn't come here to eat and sleep. I am here only because I need protection from persecution".

Khalid says he doesn't want to be called "a scrounger" or to be looked down upon because of his misfortune. Asylum seekers are not allowed work in Ireland until their applications are processed, which takes up to three years on average.

"What has happened in the past few weeks is appalling," says Mr Nozinic, a highly qualified ethnologist who was offered five jobs, none of which he could take up, within a month of arriving here in 1992.

Mr Nozinic finds the Irish "insular" and "ignorant". "The students I have taught know only about the EU, and nothing about the Europe beyond it. I have been asked in well to do homes whether we have chickens in Yugoslavia, and popcorn.

"Irish people complain about refugees coming in, but they forget that as an EU member and a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees they have to accept refugees. They behave as though their international role consisted, only of accepting benefits.

Such forthright criticism is rare among refugees, most of whom find it politic to keep their head down and to shower their host State with praise.

"I will be very faithful and honest for the kind Irish land," says Khalid, who insists on paying for my coffee when I meet him.

In contrast to the small number of refugees arriving up to last year, many of whom are highly educated, those arriving now tend to be poor and they generally don't speak English. Settled refugees have differing views on the latest arrivals.

Khalid says immigrants can be divided into two groups "genuine" refugees and economic migrants. "Ireland must not become the place for those who just want to eat and drink and collect money," he says.

"With our religion, Shia Islam, we have to work. God appreciates what you create with your own hand. I wish other refugees were like this."

However, Mr Nozinic says most refugees come from countries with no social welfare system, and find it difficult to accept money they have not earned.

"If we were given the right to work and study, we wouldn't be drawing the dole," he says.