Outgoing Irish Ombudsman and new Ombudsman for the EU Emily O’Reilly has written a very powerful critique of the Direct Provision system for asylum seekers in Ireland and the treatment of people in the asylum system generally. Writing the lead article in the summer edition of the Jesuit journal Studies, she focuses particularly on the effect on children of years spent in the isolating environment of Direct Provision centres, where their parents are unable to work or even prepare meals for their families and the children cannot have a normal relationship with their school classmates because they cannot invite their friends home or pay for school outings.
Ms O’Reilly asks in the article if the treatment of asylum seekers is discriminatory, if it breaches human rights standards, and if it will leave a legacy of disadvantaged and alienated children in the future.
The article was prompted by the case of an African asylum seeker mother with two daughters, whose case was investigated by the Ombudsman’s office. They were represented initially by Cairde and then by the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC). In this case the mother left Direct Provision because the cramped conditions were badly affecting the mental health of her elder daughter. The HSE refused to pay the mother Supplementary Welfare Allowance despite a ruling in her favour by the Social Welfare Appeals Office and eventually she had to go back into Direct Provision. Her elder daughter was in foster care at this stage and social services, who wanted to reunite the family, would not allow the daughter to go into Direct Provision again for fear it would further damage her mental health.
The Ombudsman went on to look at the asylum system more generally, referring to a series of social welfare cases taken by FLAC which held that asylum seekers could qualify for some benefits but where the Government promptly amended the legislation to stop all payments to people in the asylum process apart from the €19 per adult weekly and €9.60 per child in Direct Provision. She also referred to the FLAC report on Direct Provision, One Size Does not Fit All, published in 2009.
As she prepares to take up her new position as EU Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly in this article has posed a major, and overdue, challenge to Irish society and has warned of the consequences of not confronting it.
Click here to read Emily O'Reilly's article in Studies.