Open door immigration policy dangerous, says union chief

THE economy could not support an open door immigration policy, the leader of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said yesterday.

Launching the 2002 annual report of the Refugee Information Service (RIS), David Begg said such an approach would cause huge tensions in Irish society.

"We have to bear in mind the recent experience in the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, which has seen the emergence of far-right political parties," said Mr Begg, who has extensive Third World development experience.

Acknowledging that concern existed about the numbers of people coming into the country, Mr Begg estimated that refugees account for about 10% of the total inward migration.

It should not be beyond our capability to handle the situation with humanity and dignity for the people concerned, he said. He said the ICTU had taken a strong stand on the right of people seeking refugee status to work after six months even if their cases were not fully processed.

He said: "When people are engaged in the world of work they have a link with the community. It's easy to dismiss people if they are a statistic and you don't know them but it's a lot more difficult to dismiss people if you're sitting down with them in the canteen every day.

"It's for that very reason that we are very anxious whenever we can to recruit visitors to our shores into the trade union movement because they become part of that family or fraternity and they must be treated the same as everybody else. It also helps to break down the stereotypical views that there are throughout society on people who come here to visit us."

Refugee Information Service chairwoman Nora Nowlan said there was an urgent need for the establishment of a statutory immigration advisory group on a statutory basis to assist in the development of policy and fair practices.

"To give people who are recognised as refugees and people who are given leave to remain in Ireland a fair opportunity to integrate into Irish society, it is necessary to provide more than a letter confirming status," she said.

She said it would be fairer when reference was made to the costs associated with the asylum process to include the fact that asylum seekers do not have the right to work and have no option but to depend on welfare payments.

"Indeed, it could also be regarded as unfair that the only group of social welfare recipients who have not received an increase in their weekly basis payment of 19.10 for an adult since the year 2000 are asylum seekers living in Direct Provision," said Ms Nowlan.

For further information contact the Refugee Information Service at 01-8382740 or at www.ris.ie