THE DEPARTURE from politics of Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell – after he lost his Dublin South-East seat in last week’s general election – is an opportunity for the new Government to start afresh and pursue a heightened integration agenda, according to immigrants and human rights professionals.
Akeem Shopeju, a migrant working in Dublin, said: “Michael is a very intelligent politician and one of the best of his generation, but one of his shortcomings during his tenure as Minister for Justice is the failure of not integrating the new immigrants. We are going to miss his energy and frankness. I wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”
Shopeju added: “This is a very good opportunity for the incoming Minister of Justice to focus and utilise this huge human resource [immigrants] in terms of policy formation, implementation and monitoring.”
Peter O’Mahony, the outgoing chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, echoed Shopeju’s remarks, stating: “Whatever the new Government, whoever the new Minister for Justice is, integration must be the number one priority in the area of immigration. We have done very little to address integration comprehensively so far. While we have had a window of opportunity, it will soon slam shut if we don’t tackle the matter urgently.
“I personally do not believe that the department in charge of the security of the State can possibly be effective in dealing with integration. I believe that if we are going to be serious about integration, it should be handled by a different department, not the Department of Justice.”
He added: “We wish all who lost their seats the very best at this difficult time. Regarding the end of Michael McDowell’s time as a Minister, we have to say that we were extremely disappointed with asylum policy in his time as Minister. One example is that, while many of the backlogs in the system had been eliminated in 2001/2002, a substantial number of people who sought asylum in the 1990s still remain in limbo, waiting for a decision on their applications for leave to remain. This is unnecessary, entirely unacceptable and results in increased obstacles to integration for people whose long-term future is in this country.”
Lucy Gaffney, chair of the strategic monitoring committee of the State’s National Action Plan Against Racism (NPAR) praised McDowell’s contribution to diversity in Ireland. “Michael McDowell was hugely supportive of integration, diversity management and everything we have been working to achieve at the National Action Plan Against Racism,” she said. “He has been a large part of the NPAR’s success – his strategic vision enabled our work, and his unfaltering support has added great weight to the campaign.”
Mathew Emeka Ezeani, a Nigerian-born solicitor with Ceemex and Co in Dublin, said: “I think his departure should be a lesson to other politicians who want to play the race card and pursue a right wing agenda. Irish people are loving and kind people, and the likes of McDowell are not welcome in 21st-century Ireland. This has been vindicated in the people’s action in not electing him last Thursday.”
He continued: “I am hoping that whoever replaces him as Minister for Justice will not do things the same way McDowell did, and that the new Minister will have proper consultation with all stakeholders and take proper measures to clean up the mess which McDowell created.
“I believe that it is possible to have an effective framework for immigration control in the State without criminalising a section of the community… I support immigration control but it must be done with a human face in accordance with the law.”
Asked for her assessment of McDowell in relation to Ireland’s immigration system, Aine Ni Chonaill, spokesperson for the Immigration Control Platform, responded: “Mixed. If Michael McDowell were a dictator, if he was in absolute control in his own department – as no Minster is – then one would have to mark him low on the matter.
“There’s cabinet collective responsibility and no Minister is a dictator in his own department, therefore lots of decisions would be cabinet decisions… There would be restrictions on him by the cabinet, and restrictions on him by the courts. One would have to give him credit undoubtedly for the citizenship referendum, but I would be very angry about the incredibly soft ‘effective amnesty’ he gave in its wake. Anyone who had a child born right up to the end of 2004 was allowed to avail of the Irish-Born Child scheme which was far, far too soft.
“I would say about the man that if he had been Minister for Justice when the Belfast Agreement was done, I feel he would have seen – as I’m sure Justice Department officials saw – the madness in the arrangements about Article 2 of the Constitution which gave us that crazy system which we had to undo by that referendum... A black mark against him would have to be the ridiculously low level of deportations – one in five deportation orders are carried out and I’m aware that that is pretty much an international sort of rate, but that is no consolation.”
She added that Fianna Fáil’s manifesto stated the party is committed to implementing McDowell’s Immigration, Rewsidence and Protection Bill. “Largely speaking we would be happy with that bill,” she said. If the bill is implemented, “it will help give him a better grade as far as we’re concerned.”
What grade would that be? “I’m not going to be pushed into that corner now… I think he would have taken less of the nonsense if his hands were less tied.”
One immigrant trying to regulate her stay in Ireland said: “Anytime I saw him on the television I thought ‘He is not a politician. He is too opinionated.’ I don’t know whether he was advised on issues, because he found himself in hot water all the time.”
Her husband said: “McDowell, he is a very nice man, he is a very good leader, but the only problem is he doesn’t accept things when he makes a mistake.”
McDowell’s ‘memorable’ immigration quotes:
On asylum seekers’ ‘cock and bull’ stories: “I would prefer to interview these people at the airport, but the UN insists that I go through due procedure. As soon as we go through due process and the gardaí arrive, they lift the phone and call a lawyer who gets them a judicial review to get them taken off the plane. And as soon as they serve papers on me it is my duty to stop the flight.”
On ‘citizenship tourism’: “They [masters of maternity hospitals] pleaded with me to do something to change the law in relation to this. They didn’t ask for additional resources, they were asking me to change the law. So I’m a bit surprised if it is being suggested that that is not the request that was being made.”
On granting the return of deported Leaving Cert student Kunle Elukanlo (pictued above): “I have therefore decided to revoke the order in his case and to arrange for a temporary visa for six months to be issued to Kunle. This is an exceptional measure given the circumstances of this case.”
On his ‘serious consideration’ of detention centres for asylum seekers: “If a person is a high-risk applicant they can’t expect to come into the State and make an official application and then disappear into Irish society.”
On a new Ireland: “In creating a new Ireland, we must respect these democratic norms, otherwise we run the risk of breeding discontent and the type of negative radicalism which feeds fear and suspicion of change. I do believe that we can have a diverse yet cohesive society where people of different backgrounds, while maintaining their own cultural identity, can be proud of their Irishness, be self confident and willing to embrace new challenges.”
Shopeju added: “This is a very good opportunity for the incoming Minister of Justice to focus and utilise this huge human resource [immigrants] in terms of policy formation, implementation and monitoring.”
Peter O’Mahony, the outgoing chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, echoed Shopeju’s remarks, stating: “Whatever the new Government, whoever the new Minister for Justice is, integration must be the number one priority in the area of immigration. We have done very little to address integration comprehensively so far. While we have had a window of opportunity, it will soon slam shut if we don’t tackle the matter urgently.
“I personally do not believe that the department in charge of the security of the State can possibly be effective in dealing with integration. I believe that if we are going to be serious about integration, it should be handled by a different department, not the Department of Justice.”
He added: “We wish all who lost their seats the very best at this difficult time. Regarding the end of Michael McDowell’s time as a Minister, we have to say that we were extremely disappointed with asylum policy in his time as Minister. One example is that, while many of the backlogs in the system had been eliminated in 2001/2002, a substantial number of people who sought asylum in the 1990s still remain in limbo, waiting for a decision on their applications for leave to remain. This is unnecessary, entirely unacceptable and results in increased obstacles to integration for people whose long-term future is in this country.”
Lucy Gaffney, chair of the strategic monitoring committee of the State’s National Action Plan Against Racism (NPAR) praised McDowell’s contribution to diversity in Ireland. “Michael McDowell was hugely supportive of integration, diversity management and everything we have been working to achieve at the National Action Plan Against Racism,” she said. “He has been a large part of the NPAR’s success – his strategic vision enabled our work, and his unfaltering support has added great weight to the campaign.”
Mathew Emeka Ezeani, a Nigerian-born solicitor with Ceemex and Co in Dublin, said: “I think his departure should be a lesson to other politicians who want to play the race card and pursue a right wing agenda. Irish people are loving and kind people, and the likes of McDowell are not welcome in 21st-century Ireland. This has been vindicated in the people’s action in not electing him last Thursday.”
He continued: “I am hoping that whoever replaces him as Minister for Justice will not do things the same way McDowell did, and that the new Minister will have proper consultation with all stakeholders and take proper measures to clean up the mess which McDowell created.
“I believe that it is possible to have an effective framework for immigration control in the State without criminalising a section of the community… I support immigration control but it must be done with a human face in accordance with the law.”
Asked for her assessment of McDowell in relation to Ireland’s immigration system, Aine Ni Chonaill, spokesperson for the Immigration Control Platform, responded: “Mixed. If Michael McDowell were a dictator, if he was in absolute control in his own department – as no Minster is – then one would have to mark him low on the matter.
“There’s cabinet collective responsibility and no Minister is a dictator in his own department, therefore lots of decisions would be cabinet decisions… There would be restrictions on him by the cabinet, and restrictions on him by the courts. One would have to give him credit undoubtedly for the citizenship referendum, but I would be very angry about the incredibly soft ‘effective amnesty’ he gave in its wake. Anyone who had a child born right up to the end of 2004 was allowed to avail of the Irish-Born Child scheme which was far, far too soft.
“I would say about the man that if he had been Minister for Justice when the Belfast Agreement was done, I feel he would have seen – as I’m sure Justice Department officials saw – the madness in the arrangements about Article 2 of the Constitution which gave us that crazy system which we had to undo by that referendum... A black mark against him would have to be the ridiculously low level of deportations – one in five deportation orders are carried out and I’m aware that that is pretty much an international sort of rate, but that is no consolation.”
She added that Fianna Fáil’s manifesto stated the party is committed to implementing McDowell’s Immigration, Rewsidence and Protection Bill. “Largely speaking we would be happy with that bill,” she said. If the bill is implemented, “it will help give him a better grade as far as we’re concerned.”
What grade would that be? “I’m not going to be pushed into that corner now… I think he would have taken less of the nonsense if his hands were less tied.”
One immigrant trying to regulate her stay in Ireland said: “Anytime I saw him on the television I thought ‘He is not a politician. He is too opinionated.’ I don’t know whether he was advised on issues, because he found himself in hot water all the time.”
Her husband said: “McDowell, he is a very nice man, he is a very good leader, but the only problem is he doesn’t accept things when he makes a mistake.”
McDowell’s ‘memorable’ immigration quotes:
On asylum seekers’ ‘cock and bull’ stories: “I would prefer to interview these people at the airport, but the UN insists that I go through due procedure. As soon as we go through due process and the gardaí arrive, they lift the phone and call a lawyer who gets them a judicial review to get them taken off the plane. And as soon as they serve papers on me it is my duty to stop the flight.”
On ‘citizenship tourism’: “They [masters of maternity hospitals] pleaded with me to do something to change the law in relation to this. They didn’t ask for additional resources, they were asking me to change the law. So I’m a bit surprised if it is being suggested that that is not the request that was being made.”
On granting the return of deported Leaving Cert student Kunle Elukanlo (pictued above): “I have therefore decided to revoke the order in his case and to arrange for a temporary visa for six months to be issued to Kunle. This is an exceptional measure given the circumstances of this case.”
On his ‘serious consideration’ of detention centres for asylum seekers: “If a person is a high-risk applicant they can’t expect to come into the State and make an official application and then disappear into Irish society.”
On a new Ireland: “In creating a new Ireland, we must respect these democratic norms, otherwise we run the risk of breeding discontent and the type of negative radicalism which feeds fear and suspicion of change. I do believe that we can have a diverse yet cohesive society where people of different backgrounds, while maintaining their own cultural identity, can be proud of their Irishness, be self confident and willing to embrace new challenges.”
