A commission of the Irish Bishops' Conference has proposed a set of eight principles which might form a basis for an immigration policy in Ireland. In a document, First Notes Towards a Comprehensive Irish Immigration Policy, the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace said current developments meant "a humane, transparent and sustainable immigration policy" was now essential.
"Asylum applications have risen from 39 in 1992 to 4,626 in 1998 and are likely to top 7,000 by the end of 1999 . . . Parallel with growth in asylum-seekers has been a growth in the inflow of immigrants attracted by our rising prosperity," it said.
A national immigration policy should embrace three categories of people, it said: "those coming or recruited for economic reasons, those admitted on humanitarian grounds other than on foot of an asylum application, and those admitted on grounds of family reunion".
Such a national immigration policy should "balance generosity with long-term sustainability. It must be regulated with regard to absorption capacity, economic needs, and so on. It must also bear in mind that length of stay may create an entitlement not to be deported".
It should "have a significant humanitarian component," admitting some immigrants on humanitarian as distinct from economic grounds. It should be framed in the context of a rights framework with international immigrant rights standards "firmly incorporated into Irish legislation". And policy should be transparent.
The process of admitting immigrants or deporting them "should be based on clear and public selection criteria". Anyone satisfying these criteria should have an equal chance of being admitted with no avoidable discrimination between immigrants and the host community. The selection criteria should be non-discriminatory.
The policy should be humane, minimising the human cost of living in another country, and, should it be necessary, of ending their stay in Ireland.
It should be based on "adequate reception, administration and integration mechanisms" with immigrants being assisted by comprehensive support structures and programmes.
These programmes should ensure immigrants do not become marginalised. Current UK mechanisms for Irish emigrants are given by the commission as an example of what might be introduced here.
