Blaise Mananga can feel the looks people give him as he shops for his 11-year-old daughter in the ladies’ section.
“But I have to man up and be strong,” he told The Irish Times last week. His wife remains in the Democratic Republic of Congo, her application for reunification having been refused. “I know I have to go and buy some stuff for my daughter.”
Mananga (30) came to Ireland in 2018 as an asylum seeker. It took four years for him to be granted refugee status on appeal, before being joined by his daughter under the family reunification policy in 2023.
His wife was refused by the Department of Justice, which said Mananga indicated they weren’t married during the process. He disputes this.
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His accommodation situation was fluid: he had been asked to leave the International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) centre he was living in Waterford after he got refugee status, and was offered a place in tented accommodation in Limerick. He didn’t take this up, arguing that it would not be suitable for his daughter, who would shortly be joining him.
As it stands, he is renting a two-bedroom apartment, juggling college, a part-time job and single parenting, while trying to bring his wife – who has not seen their daughter since 2023 – to Ireland. His daughter “still needs her mum, she still wants to be with her”, he says.
In the wake of wide-ranging reforms to the immigration system announced by the Coalition this week, he believes that if he applied now, reunification would be impossible.
The Coalition has faced strong criticism from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the sector, while Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has argued the reforms are in reaction to rapid population growth seven times the EU average.
Privately, Government figures are even more frank about the intent: it is to drive down the numbers arriving.
Will the policies work? And if so, for whom?
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Despite the fanfare surrounding the new measures this week, it will be some time before many take effect. “Some can be implemented immediately,” says Colm Brophy, Fine Gael’s Minister of State for Migration. “Others require the Government to look and do some evaluation.”
One change to citizenship policy can take place immediately: refugees will have to be in the country for five instead of three years when applying for naturalisation.
But other changes will take time. The most high-profile reform, charging working asylum seekers for accommodation, is an example. A data-sharing agreement with the Department of Social Protection will be needed to assess income.
A review process will also be required, as high volumes of appeals are expected, and a third party will have to be contracted to handle debt management and arrears, including pursuing people through the courts.
[ How many people moved to Ireland last year and how many were asylum seekers?Opens in new window ]
Costs for set-up are estimated at up to €1.6 million, with annual costs of €740,000, and additional pay for extra staff of around €2 million initially. Once a final proposal goes to Cabinet, it will take another nine to 12 months to deliver the model, ministers were told last week.
When it comes to changes to family reunification policy for people in the State on work permits, including new rules around having suitable accommodation for those coming, these are to be developed “over time”, with ministers told this week they will be implemented as soon as operational considerations allow.
Amendments to existing law or new regulations or reviews of existing policy will be needed to implement many changes.
So, while the publicity has been significant, it will take time to see what implementation will look like. For example, how will a stipulation that refugees seeking family reunification be “self-sufficient” be applied? It seems clear that this will mean not taking certain welfare payments.
But will an assessment be made of their income, or accommodation? Sources say this is not yet decided – nor is the question of which welfare payments may prevent people from applying for reunification, or for citizenship. This is all still being worked out – which in turn, creates further uncertainty for people living here.
The changes are not just for those seeking international protection, but also for people here on work permits. They will face higher barriers to family reunificationwith income thresholds for bringing spouses and children expected to increase in the new year, being index-linked to the working family payment. NGOs say these thresholds already place reunification beyond the reach of many workers.
Bethel Muzaya, originally from Zimbabwe, came to Ireland in 2022 to work as a healthcare assistant. She followed her mother and sister, who came to the country in the early 2000s, but left behind her husband and two children.
In August, her husband died suddenly. Her application for family reunification had already been rejected, she said, over concerns over whether her husband would be able to work on arrival. She is now appealing that decision.
“For me the new rules are sad news for everyone who holds a general work permit,” she says, arguing that she is adding to the country. “The Irish Government is benefiting from my work, my sweat, my taxes.”
She feels the life of a migrant labourer here is “all work and no play”. She sees other parents going to soccer matches and playgrounds. “I can’t do that because my children are not here.”
Migrant workers may leave Ireland, she says, if they do not have a realistic chance of reunification. “Remember, we have left our own countries to be here.”
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Multiple sources suggest that the publicity, and the associated impression that Ireland is becoming a colder house for immigrants, is part of the strategy. Partially this is born of a reaction to pressure on services: senior Government sources point to an increase in the number of people from outside the European Economic Area in emergency accommodation.
They also believe that tightening up on immigration not only cuts off a growth path for the far right, but responds to concerns about numbers that are more widespread among middle ground voters.
“Primarily what we’re doing is putting in place legislatively and in terms of the system on the ground will be firm, fair and effective, and I think the public want to see that,” says Brophy.
“We as a country spent the majority of our existence dealing with how you managed outward migration and how we dealt with that economically and socially,” he adds, outlining that Ireland has never put in place processes to deal with inward migration as “a modern, prosperous European state”.
This week’s reforms, while eye-catching, are not the end. The implementation of the EU’s migration pact will require new legislation to be passed and enacted by next summer, while the Government is also promising a National Migration Strategy.
Meanwhile, the focus will come next on student visas, with multiple sources across Government indicating a reduction in the 60,000 granted last year is in the offing.
“No decision has been made but looking at the overall number coming in on student visas is something that you have to be cogniscent of when looking at the system,” says Brophy. The English-language school sector is set to come under increasing scrutiny, with a view privately within the Coalition that alongside many good outfits, there are those where the system operates as effectively a backdoor employment visa.
“I’m not going to prejudge the outcome of any review we’re taking, but one could see a situation where there would be a higher quality system in place which might overall reduce the number of visas granted on the English language side,” says Brophy.
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A fall in numbers arriving will be taken as validation of the approach, but these numbers were falling anyway, and are expected to be down significantly on last year.. Such a reduction is unlikely to reverse population growth, and by itself will not address the deeper issues around access to housing and the quality of services for the wider population which is the root cause of Government unpopularity.
“Research shows us that these kinds of measures don’t deter people who are seeking safety,” says Maria Hennessy, Government liaison officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ireland.
“Their need to seek safety is driven by events in their own countries, including conflict and persecution.” Officials or Government believe that while migration is dynamic and ultimately influenced by outside factors, there are levers they can pull here to lower the numbers arriving.
For those who are here or arrive, Hennessy argues that the real-world effect of the changes, once implemented, will increase hardship, especially those around family reunification. This, she says “does appear to be quite a significant change to the previous framework in Ireland and that is certainly concerning”
For Erika Hayes, a solicitor with the Mercy Law Centre which works with migrants: “It’s just going to make what’s already difficult for people almost impossibly difficult.”
