Immigrants to raise issues with election candidates

IMMIGRANTS will raise their election issues at a special meet-and-greet event with candidates in Cork today.

Migrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees are expected to raise concerns about access to housing, English language tuition, difficulty in dealing with some public service bodies and the living conditions of asylum seekers.

The event is organised by Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, as part of the Make Your Mark campaign which has been running since September 2008.

The campaign aims to raise migrant participation in elections and facilitate dialogue with candidates.

Nasc’s director Gertrude Cotter said it is hoped that through greater participation in the election process, these issues can come to the fore in the local context so that councillors can actively engage with them.

“We have facilitated a lot of people to register and I also think we have engaged with councillors and got them thinking about migrants in their community,” she said. “Hopefully, this will translate into getting migrant issues onto the agenda in Cork.”

Candidates from all the main political parties will be hoping their stance on migrant issues will be enough to attract votes from what is now a significant migrant population.

The city’s migrant population has been rising steadily since the 1990s but has increased dramatically since the ten accession countries joined the European Union in 2004.

The event will take place in the Clarion Hotel on Lapp’s Quay from 2.30pm to 4pm.