'When you live in a direct provision centre, it’s like you are bound’

One year on from white paper promises, end of direct provision is not yet in sight, writes Ellen O'Regan

Miriam Raja, who now lives in Midleton, Co Cork: 'I think abolishing provision centres will allow people to be independent. It will help them to join in with the community, and be themselves.' Picture: David Keane

It is almost a year since the publication of a white paper to abolish direct provision and while there are signs of progress, those in the system still feel no tangible change.

Miriam Raja arrived in Ireland in 2015, from South Africa. She spent three years in direct provision, arriving into the system with her son and husband, and having her second child while still living in one family room in a centre in Glounthaune, Cork.

She said the slow pace of both the current system and the implementation of the white paper is taking people’s lives away.

“When you live in a direct provision centre, it’s like you are bound,” said Miriam.

“You cannot move your feet a step forward, or backwards, all your hands and feet are restrained within a system that you cannot change.

“I’m hoping and praying that by 2024, or before, that they push in this new system, because I think abolishing provision centres will allow people to be independent. It will help them to join in with the community, and be themselves.

“The white paper will take years to come completely true. And I think people will just have to be patient and wait for that. That’s not good. But you have to.

“My friends still in direct provision were so happy when they heard about the white paper, but I said, listen, you know when something is being released, it could take a couple of years to be completed, so just cross your fingers and hope everything works out.

“Up to now they’re still in direct provision. There are people who are still waiting, three, four, six years. You are taking somebody’s life away. Six years takes a lot from somebody’s life.”

First established as an emergency measure in 1999, direct provision was supposed to provide accommodation for people for no longer than six months, while they sought asylum in Ireland.

By the end of 2020, the average processing time for international protection cases was 20.3 months — 14.4 months for prioritised cases.

Around 7,000 people currently live in direct provision in former hotels, guesthouses, hostels, convents, nursing homes, holiday camps, and mobile homes.

More than half have been there for two years or longer. Half have no access to cooking facilities, and a room is often shared by multiple strangers or an entire family.

The system is privately managed, run for profit, and paid for by the State.

This contrasts with many EU member states, where accommodation for applicants for international protection is routinely provided by not-for-profit organisations.

Direct provision has proved “expensive, inefficient, and ill-equipped to respond to shifting trends in international migration”, and has “failed to respect the human rights and dignity of individuals”, in the words of Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman, whose department is responsible for oversight of the system.

As a response, the Government published the ‘White Paper to End Direct Provision and to establish a new International Protection Support Service’, grounded in the principles of human rights and operated on a not-for-profit basis.

Two-phase system

It committed to having the two-phase system fully operational by December 2024.

In phase one, up to 2,000 applicants will reside in six State-owned and operated reception and integration centres, with own-door or own-room accommodation.

Wrap-around supports and services will include designated case workers, health and vulnerability assessments, healthcare, education, an allowance, employment supports, and
access to a bank account.

After four months, residents will move to phase two accommodation within the community for an average of 14 months, with supports to encourage interconnectedness.

Phase two accommodation will be own-door, self-contained houses or apartments for families, and own-door or own room accommodation for single people. It will accommodate a flow-through of 3,500 international protection applicants in a 12-month period.

Applicants still waiting for an international protection decision after six months will be entitled to access employment, and access to third-level education will be available for applicants living for more than three years in the system. The white paper includes a breakdown of actions to be focused on each year up to 2024.

Focus points

Focus points for 2021 included appointing a transition team to drive implementation of the new model, agreeing the implementation plan and oversight structures, and initiation of the planning process for certain projects.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said that “extensive work” had been done since publication of the white paper.

A transition team has been established, as well as an oversight structure in the form of a programme board and an external advisory committee. The spokesperson said the board has met regularly over the past 12 months to review progress.

The implementation plan has been developed to secure accommodation and develop the new model and support services, however further refinement is needed in the coming months. Work is also under way on developing an income support system for international protection applicants, and an integration support system.

They said planning is “well advanced” on the acquisition of a range of properties for phase two accommodation. Planning and design for capital projects is now expected to begin this year, with new phase two builds intended to come on stream in 2023.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said new measures and procedures are already in place to make the protection process more efficient.

Certain applications are proceeding without interview,where a trained international protection officer believes they should be granted a refugee declaration. Interviews are also being held virtually and
facilitated outside of Dublin, and additional staff have been trained to increase interviewing capacity.

A case management function has also been implemented to oversee progress of applications and avoid delay.

The spokesperson said the regularisation scheme for long-term undocumented migrants will invite those with an outstanding international protection application, and living in the system for two years, to apply for consideration.

Slow progress

However, those who have experienced the direct provision system first hand say that progress is very slow.

A new coalition founded by eight not-for-profit groups is now putting pressure on the Government to deliver on the commitment to bring an end to direct provision in the next two years.

Standing Against Direct Provision (Stad), has been founded by Nasc, Amnesty International Ireland, Crosscare Refugee Project, Cultúr, Doras, Immigrant Council of Ireland, Irish Refugee Council, and Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland.

The coalition’s focus is to replace direct provision with an alternative system by 2024, close all emergency centres as an immediate priority, and reduce processing times for
international protection applications and appeals.

Stad is also calling for Hiqa to be given a mandate to independently inspect direct provision centres while they remain operational, and for urgent measures identified in the Catherine Day report to be implemented immediately, such as an increase in the daily expenses allowance, making the right to work available after three months, and making a comprehensive vulnerability assessment available to everyone.

Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, said 2022 will be a “pivotal” year for the implementation of the white paper.

“I do believe that the commitment to ending direct provision is real,” said Mr Henderson.

“As a member of the programme board, we have seen that the transition team is doing serious thinking, along the right track and the foundations for a new system are beginning to be put in place.

“However, from working with people living in direct provision, there hasn’t been tangible change. Things like the regularisation process offer hope, but people need lift-off.”

Case study: Zimbabwe teacher: ‘Human rights are urgent things’

Balume Armstrong Dube is a 42-year-old teacher from Zimbabwe. He has been in direct provision in Letterkenny since he arrived in Ireland last year.

“The reason why people come here is because they’ve got a perception that it is a democratic system that works, that actually acknowledges the rights of all human beings. But then there’s disappointment sometimes when you come here, with the people you looked up to.

“Although I live comfortably here in Letterkenny centre, that is not the experience with most asylum seekers. Most people in other centres live in atrocious conditions. They seem to say, it’s acceptable for you to stay here, because you’re an asylum seeker. Whether the decision is that we can stay or not, but you should treat us like human beings, because we are.”

He said until the white paper is fully implemented, and the rights of asylum seekers are fully respected, anything less cannot be counted as progress.

Balume Armstrong Dube in his apartment in Letterkenny. Picture: NW Newspix

“If you’re dealing with human beings, progress does not mean doing half of what you should have done. You’re talking about a child that is still living in the same room with a father and mother, they cannot stay there another day.

“2024 seems like it’s just a number that has been given out there. Most of these things can be done immediately. Perhaps there are things that we have to wait for, structurally in terms of the accommodation, or for the alternative to the current system that is there.

“Perhaps it will take a bit of consultation to figure out. But human rights are urgent things, you should not wait for that long to actually give a right to someone, when it belongs to them.”

2022 is a pivotal year for asylum seekers, writes Nick Henderson

The pandemic has been a disaster for refugees worldwide. Covid was used as cover for human rights abuses. As borders closed, it became harder and more dangerous to flee. In countries of refuge, quarantine was abused, fear of the “other” grew and decision making ground to a halt.

In Europe, progressive refugee policies are under attack. It is hard not to conclude that the highwater mark of the common European asylum system has been reached. Discussions on the commission’s Pact on Asylum and Migration, published in September 2020, are deadlocked.

Last year was the deadliest for migration routes to and within Europe since 2018. Only last week, 19 people froze to death on the Turkish-Greek border. Refugee rights groups are digging in and trying to defend the basic tenets of refugee protection. Amidst this backdrop, can Ireland be the exception?

February 26 will mark one year since the Government’s commitment to end direct provision, outlined in the white paper.

After 20 years of advocacy, led by people in the system and a wide spectrum of organisations, it is still remarkable to see the words “end direct provision” next to the seal of the Government of Ireland.

Every day we work with people in the protection process. Delays are blighting the system. Emergency centres — hotels in particular — continue to be used. Large numbers of people are still sharing bedrooms.

There have been changes in the last 12 months; driver licences, bank accounts, and a vulnerability assessment are now available to people.

But in each case, the push for change was either the Human Rights Commission, legal action, or simply implementation of a legal obligation that has existed since 2018.

Cumulatively there is no doubt that these changes can make a difference, but the realisation of relatively basic human rights should not be cause for a huge celebration. 

However, there are real chinks of light on the horizon. The forthcoming regularisation scheme, specific for people in the protection process and due to be announced soon, offers huge hope. 

By drastically reducing the large backlog it could trigger the complete reset the process needs.

A large-scale and coordinated effort will also be needed to help people transition out of the system.

Civil society is also speaking with one voice. In January a new coalition, Stad, comprising more than 35 organisations, was launched.

Stad has four aims: End direct provision; reduce delays; mandate Hiqa to inspect centres; and implementation of the actions identified by the Catherine Day report.

It is no longer a case of whether direct provision should end but what should replace it, how it is implemented, and when. Stad will be there to monitor this process and speak as a collective about the system as we see it and the need for change. A transition team has been created that will oversee the system. The team is doing serious thinking, on the right track and the foundations are beginning to be put in place.

It will be crucial that all government departments — housing, finance and public expenditure, in particular — roll in behind these recommendations and support the work of the transition team.

The budget, in particular, is unclear and at some point, protection accommodation must be considered part of mainstream housing policy.

Our guiding star in this process continues to be our report on alternatives to direct provision, published one year ago. It gives multiple recommendations on how to get to a new system. This includes the use of eight accommodation models to replace direct provision. A variety of streams will be needed to meet the demand for accommodation.

Ending a system so ingrained was always going to be challenging. Political drive, from all government parties is essential. But the only real litmus test of change is what is happening on the ground and people’s direct experience of the system they live in.

People in the protection process need to see change and 2022 will be
a pivotal year. If the aims of the white paper, and the many reports and recommendations that shaped it, can be realised, Ireland will stand out in a world that is increasingly hostile to refugees.

• Nick Henderson is chief executive officer of the Irish Refugee Council