The Refugee Application Centre in Dublin will resume normal business today after members of IMPACT, who have expressed concern about their safety and that of the refugees using the centre, accepted a settlement formula. Under the agreement, the Eastern Health Board has given a commitment to appoint ten additional county welfare officers who will work with refugees. The Office of Public Works has also agreed to secure, as quickly as possible, a more suitable and spacious building to help accommodate some of the centre's work.
For several months now, this was a crisis that was waiting to happen. For months, it has been evident that the Refugee Application Centre was struggling to cope with the sheer numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers. The increase in the number of asylum seekers has been staggering; from 200-300 per month earlier this year to 1,000 or so in recent months. In all, some 5,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the State since the beginning of this year.
The chaotic scenes outside the centre, as asylum-seekers queued through the night, have underlined how the whole application system was in a virtual state of collapse. For several months, it must also have been clear to the authorities that the relatively small number of staff - 11 employees and four relief workers - could not handle this scale of applications in a civilised or safe manner. Various refugee groups, a small coterie of politicians and some concerned citizens have sought to highlight this scandal. But it has taken protest action by community welfare officers, of a kind they might not normally even countenance, to provoke some kind of response.
The events of recent months are a reminder of this State's painful transition from emigration to immigration. Some small progress has been made, the reform of the refugee laws earlier this year was guided by humanitarian principles and, let it be said, economic self interest. It was also an attempt to respond to a very active campaign by immigration and civil rights groups.
But there remains the sense that the Government, despite the best efforts of its minority partner, is less than generous in its approach. Immigration policy continues to be run restrictively by the Department of Justice and there remains a bewildering array of State agencies with responsibility for the issue with little overall control. It is clear that the relaxation on the prohibition on asylum-seekers working, introduced in July, is not having the desired effect.The impractical nature of the regulations has meant that only 42 asylum-seekers have applied for work permits up to the end of last month. The events of recent days show how the authorities are still reacting to events concerning the refugees, rather than framing an adequate policy to deal with their needs. As the economy continues to boom, the tide of immigrants will not slow down. The situation, from the refugees' perspective may get worse before it gets better. That is why this State needs to move away from an ad-hoc approach and develop integrated welfare and accommodation policies for asylum-seekers.
editor@irish-times.ie