Those who suggest that reform of the direct provision system for asylum seekers should be delayed until a clear picture emerges of the likely impact of the large-scale displacement of people across the Mediterranean Sea are misguided. Inaction would only betray the hopes of families who have waited in this State for many years to have their status resolved while perpetuating a system for newcomers that is destructive of human dignity and family life.
An official group, including representatives of Government departments and headed by Mr Justice Bryan McMahon, has recommended that asylum seekers who have been more than five years in the system should have their cases fast-tracked to residency. Living conditions in direct provision centres should be improved, along with weekly allowances. New applicants should expect to receive a decision on their cases within a year and be allowed to work after nine months. Under a fast-track legal process, it was estimated that about 60 per cent of arrivals would be deported.
A series of articles in this newspaper, last year, exposed the conditions that asylum seekers were living under in some of the State’s 34 direct provision centres. In crowded conditions, unable to cook for themselves, denied the right to work and provided with a basic adult allowance of €19.10 a week, they existed in a twilight world.
There also were reports of prostitution and child abuse. Conditions at some centres led to inmates to engaging in hunger strikes and public protests.
The treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants has become a divisive, political issue in Europe as war and religious persecution rage in Africa and the Middle East. It would be unfortunate if disagreement within Government and electoral considerations caused necessary reforms to be postponed here.
A failure of political nerve in reforming the direct provision system would not only affect current applicants, it would guarantee the survival of backlogs and perpetuate an expensive, dysfunctional, legal appeals process.