Minister promises new Immigration Bill at special event for Burmese refugees
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter met with Burmese refugees residing in Ireland and expressed his desire to establish a new immigration bill at a documentary screening in recognition of World Refugee Day on 20 June.
Minister Shatter was greeted by a group of Karen, a Burmese ethnic minority that has been displaced by the current Myanmar government, as they sang traditional Karen songs outside the Light House Cinema in Smithfield Square.
The Karen in attendance were given asylum by Ireland in 2007 and have been residing in Castlebar and Ballina in Co Mayo.
Hsar Bnay Say, a member of the Karen group from Mayo, recounted her experience being forced from Burma into forest refugee camps near the border with Thailand where she lived for a number of years before relocating to Ireland.
“Life in the refugee camps is very hard, with no opportunities or freedom at all,” she said. “When we arrived in Ireland in 2007 I found it is amazing and a very beautiful country and peaceful and safe for us.”
She also said how happy she was to have recently been granted Irish citizenship along with 54 other Karen by Minister Shatter.
In a formal speech, the minister addressed the issue of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010, which he says his department is currently working on.
“It remains my considered view that, instead of engaging in the extremely cumbersome process of tabling hundreds of amendments to the 2010 bill, it would be much more efficient to publish a new and enhanced one incorporating anticipated amendments and addressing key outstanding issues.”
Minister Shatter also said his goal is to have the new immigration bill ready for evaluation by the Government later this year.
The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill has been revised a number of times in recent years and continues to be a point of contention with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for its inability to process the nearly 6,000 refugees seeking asylum, and in some cases citizenship, in Ireland in an efficient manner.
Minister Shatter left the cinema to attend other business before the start of the show, a documentary titled Moving to Mars that follows a Karen family as they leave Burma to seek asylum in the UK.
The event was organised by the UNHCR.
