World Refugee Day Award presented to Limerick resident

FOR a man not entitled to work, Ernest is a very busy man.

He gets up at 6am and goes to bed at 2am. He has two diaries, and plans a couple of weeks in advance.

Ernest Bishop is a 44-year-old asylum seeker, who only last week was granted leave to remain in Ireland on humanitarian grounds.

Yesterday, in recognition of his selfless work, he received a World Refugee Day Award in Dublin.

The ceremony, organised by the African Refugee Network, was held in Dublin’s Civic Offices and marks this Sunday’s UN World Refugee Day.

The Sierra Leone man was one of 10 refugees and asylum seekers honoured for their positive contribution to local communities.

“I’m delighted,” he said.

Ernest arrived here in 2001, fleeing tribal violence in Freetown, the Sierra Leone capital.

As an asylum seeker, he was not allowed to work, but that didn’t stop him. He turned to voluntary work with the Civil Defence, St Vincent de Paul, the Augustinian Order, the Samaritans, Integrating Ireland and Doras - a support group for asylum seekers and refugees in Limerick, where he is based.

He also helps organise summer camps for children and worked as a volunteer for the Special Olympics.

“I am also writing a book, and I read my poems in a pub in Limerick.”

Now that he has been granted leave to remain, he is trying to bring his wife and two children over too.

He has nothing but praise for Irish people, and for Limerick, saying: “I can tell you it’s one of the best places in Ireland.”