The Immigration Control Platform has called on the Government to take away the right of asylum-seekers to vote and stand in future local elections.
The call was made at the a.g.m. of the organisation last weekend, when delegates supported a motion claiming that asylum-seekers had not established any right to be part of the community and were abusing the system. Ms Áine Ní Chonaill, public relations officer of the organisation, said asylum-seekers and other non-citizens who are allowed to ballot in local elections could decide the outcome of some polls, particularly in areas to which asylum-seekers had been dispersed.
However, Mr Rotimi Adebari, a former asylum-seeker who was elected as an Independent councillor on Portlaoise Town Council earlier this year, last night rejected the ICP's demand.
Mr Adebari, whose asylum application was rejected but who has since qualified for residency in Ireland on the basis of an Irish-born child, said asylum-seekers were just as much members of the community as anyone else.
Their right to vote and stand in local elections encouraged integration between old and new communities, he said.
