MYTHBUSTERS

“Soon the country will be over-run with asylum seekers!” X According to UNHCR at the end of 2009 there were 983,000 asylum seekers worldwide. South Africa had received the largest number of asylum applications, (almost a quarter of the total). Ireland had 2,755 pending applications (2,689 new ones, the rest left over from earlier years). This number is only 0.28 per cent of all asylum seekers in the world.

There are approximately 4 and a quarter million people in Ireland. At its peak in 2002, the numbers seeking asylum were just over 11,500 a year. In 2010 approximately 2000 people applied. This is a tiny proportion of the total population of Ireland.

“These people try every trick in the book to extend their stay!” X

In 2009, over a quarter of asylum applicants were children. Many of these children were born in Ireland. Some parents were told they had to make an asylum claim for their new baby because if they didn’t, they would not get a bed or food to eat for their child.

At the moment, Ireland separates asylum claims from applications to stay on humanitarian grounds. The delay between the asylum claim being finished and the decision from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on an application for subsidiary protection or leave to remain can be several years.

In October 2006, Ireland introduced a system for considering applications for subsidiary protection for those who face serious harm in their countries but don’t qualify under the strict definition of a refugee. By the end of 2009, 75 per cent of those applications were still waiting for a decision!

Delays in the court system in Ireland are beyond the control of asylum seekers.

1 | Produced by the Irish Refugee Council, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2For more information visit www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie or email info@irishrefugeecouncil.ie

“We should just send them back where they came from!” X

Ireland has signed a number of international conventions or treaties, including the UN Convention on Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

These conventions and Irish domestic law allow people to make an application for refugee status, subsidiary protection and leave to remain. Until those applications have been fully considered and an opportunity given to challenge any negative decisions in the courts, Ireland cannot simply send people back to their countries.

Some of the countries that asylum seekers have come from are in such turmoil that Ireland cannot return them. This includes countries such as Somalia and Afghanistan.

“They cost the country far too much money!” X

Most of the money goes to private companies such as those running the accommodation centres and translation or interpreting agencies.

Out of a social welfare payment of €196 a week for a single asylum seeker, €176.90 is paid to the company that accommodates them. This is on top of the money the company already gets for rent! This leaves €19.10 a week for adult asylum seekers and €9.60 per child.

Asylum seekers are not allowed to work. Ireland is one of only two countries in the European Union that will not allow asylum seekers to work in any form of employment.

“I’d swap places with them anytime to have all my needs catered for and a bit of spending money” X

The majority of asylum seekers live in hostels, caravan sites, hotels and holiday camps for years.

They can be moved at short notice without any consultation or regard for their needs.

Their food is provided in the form of 3 meals a day at set times. Often the menu will be the same each day, if not twice a day. They cannot cook for themselves or their children.

They are not allowed to work or to do any courses other than basic English and IT.

2 | Produced by the Irish Refugee Council, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2For more information visit www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie or email info@irishrefugeecouncil.ie