After many months of prevarication, the Government has produced what it would wish to be seen as a balanced package of proposals to tackle aspects of the refugee, asylum and immigration problems which have been placing increasing pressure on different services of the State. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, got clearance from the Cabinet to establish a new statutory agency to deal with the reception of asylum-seekers and the integration of refugees, to provide for 8,000 short-term places for applicants and to bring forward amending legislation by the summer to enable deportation orders to be strictly enforced. The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, outlined the principles governing a new work visa scheme to fill shortages in the labour market.
The manner of the announcement of the Government's long-awaited initiative proved to be a more interesting indicator of political attitude than the much-leaked contents of the twin policies themselves. Despite the Taoiseach's expressed interest in the immigration problem in Australia and on his return, neither he, nor the Minister for Justice, were prepared to front the launch of the new strategy in public, nor to answer questions about it.
Dealing with the more controversial policy aspects, the Minister for Justice outlined the need for a further 8,000 places to accommodate the increased inflow of asylum applicants this year. In order to meet this need, on a short to medium-term basis, he announced that 4,000 prefabs would be built, 2,000 would be accommodated in hotels/ guesthouses/ hostels, a further 1,000 would be placed in mobile homes and 1,000 in "flotels". The construction of 4,000 places of permanent accommodation would proceed "as quickly as possible". Mr O'Donoghue gave no detail, however, of the costs or locations of these temporary refugee centres and he managed to avoid giving any information about the conditions which would prevail on the "flotels".
The Minister made a convincing case for the need for a tougher process of deportation. More than 300 deportation orders have been made since the Immigration Act came into force last year but only 19 have been implemented. But, once again, the measures now being contemplated by the Government to enable a more rigorous deportation regime to be enforced are not spelled out.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, gave only the broadest outline of the labour market immigration policy, which is designed to provide a new work visa scheme for people coming from non-EU countries to take up employment here. The scheme will be targeted initially at planners, engineers, architects and nurses. But it is not clear how potential employers will tap into the new scheme.
The policy statements from both Ministers yesterday are very short on specifics. There is no time-scale laid out for any of the measures. There is no sense yet of a co-ordinated Government policy on immigration matters. Nevertheless, a start has been made.