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Ireland’s border controls could be ‘Snipped’ by Govt, warns migrant group

Last update - Thursday, July 23, 2009, 12:52 By Catherine Reilly

PRIVATISING border control is among “the most worrying and sinister” outcomes of An Bord Snip Nua’s report, a migrant rights group has warned.

Commissioned by the Government, the cost-cutting analysis spearheaded by UCD economist Colm McCarthy has proposed that immigration control be “outsourced”, initially to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS).
Presently gardaí are stationed at passport controls, which McCarthy’s report describes as “an inappropriate use of Garda operational resources”.
However, migrant support groups warn that redesignating the role could signal the privatisation of immigration control in Ireland.
“This is among the most worrying and sinister proposals in the report,” Siobhán O’Donoghue of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) told Metro Éireann.
The INIS is under the aegis of the Department of Justice, which has already outsourced some of its immigration-related functions.
Accommodation and services for asylum seekers, for example, are awarded by the department to bidding contractors, some of which are known to cut costs to bolster profits.
Meanwhile, An Bord Snip Nua also recommends the abolishment of the Office of the Minister for Integration, at a saving of €1.5m, and a cut in INIS staff, saving €10m.
Already applicants for citizenship and long-term residency are waiting two years for decisions, and advocates fear that some will become undocumented as processing times lengthen.
“Reducing staff in immigration will increase delays in processing applications for long-term residency and citizenship, which in the current economic climate will likely lead to people becoming undocumented,” said the MRCI’s O’Donoghue.
A reduction in the number of English language support teachers by 1,000 is also proposed in the report, which recommends a potential saving of €5.3bn through drastic measures such as the culling of 17,300 public service job cuts and a five-per-cent drop in social welfare.
Colm McCarthy has defended the board’s proposals. Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme, the economist said the Govern-ment was borrowing nearly €400m per week: “We’re borrowing so much now that we can’t go on like this.”
McCarthy added that if the Government continues borrowing at the current level of €20bn per year, securing loans will become increasingly difficult.


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