Government policy on asylum-seekers "still seems to be far too focused on making it as difficult as possible for applicants to stay in Ireland permanently," Father Sean Healy said yesterday.
In a statement marking Racial Justice Sunday, Father Healy, director of the Justice Commission of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), called for all asylum-seekers to be given the right to work here within six months. He also criticised the lack of strong political leadership on this issue generally.
Father Healy argued that the Government should move towards guaranteeing the rights of minorities and place special emphasis on racial justice.
He said: "Far too little focus is placed on respecting the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers or on recognising their capacity to contribute to Ireland in a variety of very useful ways. Trying to discourage others from coming to the country seems to be taking precedence over all else."
This approach failed to recognise the context within which many of these applicants come to the Republic, he said.
"What we may well be witnessing now is the beginning of a major migration from the South of the world to the North. In the decades ahead, more and more people from poverty-stricken countries are likely to move to better-off countries," he said.
This migration was likely to provide one of the great challenges of the coming decades.
"It needs to be recognised that there is simply one race - the human race. Government policy on refugees and asylum-seekers should be framed within this context," he said.
"It is scarcely tenable for Ireland or the EU to have a policy framework based on developing a fortress that cannot be entered by some of the world's most excluded people."
Welcoming the Government's recent commitment to introduce tough anti-racism legislation, Father Healy said the Justice Commission was increasingly concerned at the range and scale of problems that were emerging on this issue. It was also concerned at some of the Government's responses, "which seem to be unhelpful, to say the least".
Emphasising the importance of cultural respect, he said many people did not experience the Republic as a society where the majority respected their cultures.
"Among such people are Travellers, immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers," he said.
