Protest Wednesday 6th October at the Dail 12:30pm

Solidarity with Asylum Seekers in Ireland
Protest Wednesday 6th October at the Dail 12:30pm

No section of our society is more vulnerable than asylum seekers. Asylum seekers include people fleeing from war and persecution along with people trying to escape poverty. It can take two to three years for an asylum application to be fully processed meaning that they are left in limbo waiting for a right to stay to be conferred.

Asylum seekers are not entitled to work, and forced to survive on a meager €19.10 a week for an adult and €9.50 for a child per week. People who are ready, willing and able to work while there application is being processed are therefore prevented from doing so.
Asylum seekers want to work, pay tax and be productive members of society rather than having to sit around for years in an idle state. They include doctors, lawyers, clergymen, politicians, talented artists all prevented from contributing to Irish society.

A number of asylum seekers suffer from Mental illness as a result of living in confined spaces, with no privacy, for several years. In Viking House, for example, 90% share a room with at least three others (WAP et al, 2006:32). The psychological impact of going through the asylum process is also profoundly damaging. It is estimated that asylum seekers are 5 times more likely than an Irish citizen to be diagnosed with a psychiatric illness (Department of General Practice, NUIG, 2007). People are isolated, they have no right to work or study, live on exceptionally limited means, permanently under stress of not knowing about their future. Suicidal feelings are therefore common.

Earlier this year the Reception and Integration Agency revealed that 46 people have died while living in direct provision over the past decade. However, no records on the causes of death are kept making it impossible to determine how widespread the problem of suicide is in direct provision centres.

Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children recently saw at first- hand how asylum seekers were treated when they visited the Mosney centre, and St Patrick’s in Co Monaghan, on Thursday July 22nd 2010. The committee found that the State does not provide adequate welfare for asylum seekers. This committee is meeting again in mid October to discuss their findings with the Department of Justice’s Reception and Integration Agency (RIA).

The protest is therefore aimed at:

*Raising awareness about the plight facing thousands of asylum seekers in the context of the Oireachtas Committee meeting with the RIA.

*Asylum seekers also want clarity regarding claims that the Government will review the asylum cases of all people living here for five years or more.

*Asylum seekers demand an independent complaints mechanism since they are victimized within the current direct provision system.
Please show solidarity with those seeking asylum in Ireland. Join the protest; bring your friends, family and co-workers. Send a message that there are people in this country prepared to take a stand in defence of asylum seekers rights and therefore want to protect those who are most vulnerable and marginalized in our society.

For more info contact 086 8833 774, 086 8447 432 or email antiracismireland@gmail.com

sovtek wrote:Solidarity with Asylum Seekers in Ireland
Protest Wednesday 6th October at the Dail 12:30pm

No section of our society is more vulnerable than asylum seekers. Asylum seekers include people fleeing from war and persecution along with people trying to escape poverty. It can take two to three years for an asylum application to be fully processed meaning that they are left in limbo waiting for a right to stay to be conferred.

Asylum seekers are not entitled to work, and forced to survive on a meager €19.10 a week for an adult and €9.50 for a child per week. People who are ready, willing and able to work while there application is being processed are therefore prevented from doing so.
Asylum seekers want to work, pay tax and be productive members of society rather than having to sit around for years in an idle state. They include doctors, lawyers, clergymen, politicians, talented artists all prevented from contributing to Irish society.

A number of asylum seekers suffer from Mental illness as a result of living in confined spaces, with no privacy, for several years. In Viking House, for example, 90% share a room with at least three others (WAP et al, 2006:32). The psychological impact of going through the asylum process is also profoundly damaging. It is estimated that asylum seekers are 5 times more likely than an Irish citizen to be diagnosed with a psychiatric illness (Department of General Practice, NUIG, 2007). People are isolated, they have no right to work or study, live on exceptionally limited means, permanently under stress of not knowing about their future. Suicidal feelings are therefore common.

Earlier this year the Reception and Integration Agency revealed that 46 people have died while living in direct provision over the past decade. However, no records on the causes of death are kept making it impossible to determine how widespread the problem of suicide is in direct provision centres.

Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children recently saw at first- hand how asylum seekers were treated when they visited the Mosney centre, and St Patrick’s in Co Monaghan, on Thursday July 22nd 2010. The committee found that the State does not provide adequate welfare for asylum seekers. This committee is meeting again in mid October to discuss their findings with the Department of Justice’s Reception and Integration Agency (RIA).

The protest is therefore aimed at:

*Raising awareness about the plight facing thousands of asylum seekers in the context of the Oireachtas Committee meeting with the RIA.

*Asylum seekers also want clarity regarding claims that the Government will review the asylum cases of all people living here for five years or more.

*Asylum seekers demand an independent complaints mechanism since they are victimized within the current direct provision system.
Please show solidarity with those seeking asylum in Ireland. Join the protest; bring your friends, family and co-workers. Send a message that there are people in this country prepared to take a stand in defence of asylum seekers rights and therefore want to protect those who are most vulnerable and marginalized in our society.

For more info contact 086 8833 774, 086 8447 432 or email antiracismireland@gmail.com

best of luck with this, esecially the demand in proper accommodation in light of the millions the private c&nts companies have robbed off the state but never offered proper basic facilities. they are the people that you should be after!

but a right to work? you have any idea what floods would come in? anyway, even if they had this right, its no use to them, there are damn all jobs out there for the irish and eu's. no doubt many of these people do actually have high skills and qualifications but there is no demand. like it or not, with the exception of places like burma, certain small parts of nigeria, afganistan, iran and iraq, there are not a whole deal of countries that fit the "persecution" bill as required by the un. check the coi. this objectively is open to abuse and you can't deny that . how would you feel if you conveniently were all of a sudden let go of your post, unable to aford to sue the employer for possible wrongful termination only to find someone, you if the minister got his case sorted out and dealt with these cases properly and in a timely fashion would be boarding a plane out of here? its a different story if they were recognised legally, only i think there would be war, so i hope you are able to face the music.

as for doctors and lawyers, thats fine and well, but who is going to pay for their huge fees to enter their professional courses in order to meet this countries qualifications and standards? they can't just walk into a job without some form of vetting from the national agencies. politicans, right thats what they tell you, elected by the people were they? they won't have problems proving it then. what countries give rights to asylum seekers to work?

as for the 5 year rule. the immigration council should never have announced that publicly until the people had the green card in their hand without the public knowing about it. it was completely incompetent and stupid to have done what they did. taking the word of some unauthorised officer in the department, no matter how senior they were, was competely retarded and naive, when there was nothing in writing to make it enforceable. you know full well governments have no principles and will when they really really really have to, would listen to the people. they know when they have to back track, this was one of them

any way best of luck