A new report on the provision of services to asylum seekers in Ireland has described our reception centres as unsuitable for long-term residence, despite the cost-effectiveness and flexibility the Government claims they offer.
Published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the report was based on more than 4,800 asylum seekers who were being housed in 35 reception centres across Ireland at the end of 2012. It stated that about 59 per cent had been living in the centres for over three years, with 31 and nine per cent resident for more five and seven years respectively.
The report also highlighted some of the contentious issues identified with the system, including “lack of privacy, overcrowding, insufficient facilities such as homework/play areas for children and limited autonomy, especially regarding food.”
While there seems to be nothing novel in the report compared to what has been previously highlighted by asylum seekers’ support groups and human rights bodies, it confirms the urgent need for the overhaul of the system.
It is unacceptable that so many asylum seekers are allowed to live in a system that does nothing much to improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people in our society.
Metro Éireann urges the Government to grant everyone who has been in the system permission to live and work in the State, which would give the a change to begin rebuilding their lives.
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