Ukraine crisis can't let Government off the hook on direct provision promises

Admission that the State is unlikely to meet commitment to end system by 2024 is a major blow to thousands languishing in cramped conditions throughout the country, writes John Lannon

A young Ukrainian refugee cries on the shoulder of her mother in the entrance hall at Przemysl Glowny train station in Poland, after arriving by train from Ukraine to flee the Russian invasion. Picture date: Tuesday March 29, 2022.

The Government has admitted that it is now unlikely to meet its commitment to end the direct provision system by 2024. 

This news is not surprising given the pressure the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is under to source accommodation. 

The need to accommodate refugees at Páirc Uí Chaoimh is evidence of the vast scale of the challenge. 

Nevertheless, the admission surrounding direct provision comes as a major blow to thousands of people languishing in cruel and cramped conditions throughout Ireland. 

Nobody could have foreseen the enormous challenges posed by the war in Ukraine, but this does not allow us to abandon or suspend the long overdue pledge to end direct provision.

It is a system that is not fit for purpose and one that has compounded the suffering of tens of thousands of people since it was established as a temporary emergency measure 22 years ago.

From the onset, State supports provided to those seeking protection on our shores were intentionally meagre. Accommodation was provided on a full-board basis, but international protection applicants were not permitted to work and were given an inadequate weekly allowance of €19.10. 

Residents continue to be placed in cramped conditions, often for years on end. For many, it means a life in limbo, unable to cook, work or integrate into the local community. 

Isolation has created a mental health pressure cooker, and tragically, suicides are not uncommon. It is no surprise that there is near consensus on the need to end the system, which ultimately gave rise to the Government’s commitment to finally act.

Since the end of February, we’ve thankfully seen a different response to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine. 

While the conditions that many of them are living in are far from ideal, the Government has at least ensured that they get PPS numbers immediately, have social welfare payments processed quickly, and qualify for child benefit and other payments. 

Children playing at Birchwood House direct provision centre, Waterford, during a Bricks 4 Kidz workshop as part of SE Science Festival. Picture: Patrick Browne

This is an appropriate response, and is in line with the EU decision to activate a Temporary Protection Directive to protect and support people from Ukraine.

And yet, people escaping from other wars must be wondering how much has really changed since 2000. 

In recent months the situation has become even worse for international protection applicants. 

There are ongoing delays in the registration of their applications and in the issuing of the temporary residence certificates (TRCs) that are essential for medical care and the weekly allowance payments (now set at €38.80).

Meanwhile, there are now approximately 4,000 people in the direct provision system who have their papers, yet they have nowhere to go and few options in a housing sector that is collapsing.

In the midst of a national outpouring of solidarity and support for people from Ukraine, there are glaring injustices in the manner in which the State treats people affected by different wars. While support for Ukrainian refugees is also inadequate, a distinctly two-tier system now exists, with international protection applicants pushed to the back of the queue.

The Eglinton direct provision centre in Salthill, Galway.

This is unacceptable. As a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Geneva Convention), Ireland is obliged to provide protection to everyone who has a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. And every applicant for protection has a right to be treated with respect, dignity and fairness while their application is being processed.

Over its 22-year history, direct provision has become a lucrative profit-making venture for private sector companies and has caused untold distress and trauma for the people forced to live in the centres.

Let’s hope we have learned from this, and that we do not leave Ukrainian refugees languishing in unsuitable, congregated settings for longer than is necessary.

If the Government is serious about the human rights of refugees, it must, at the very least, ensure that the standards set in the EU Recast Reception Conditions Directive are adhered to for protection applicants. 

The failure to implement the Government’s own national standards and the delay in formalising the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (Hiqa) monitoring of direct provision centres has been revealing. 

International Protection Accommodation Services uses a private company to monitor compliance in areas like food hygiene, water supply, and general safety. But Hiqa inspections would go further. If implemented properly, they would improve the quality and safety of health and social care services, focusing on ensuring better-quality, person-centred care and highlighting areas for improvement.

The huge challenges facing the Government when it comes to upholding the rights and entitlements of people from Ukraine should not be underestimated. But this also presents an opportunity. 

Doras and others in the Ukraine Civil Society Forum have been calling for a National Lead for Ireland’s refugee response. We’ve also called for the housing agency to be mandated to develop a medium-term plan for housing refugees. 

Meanwhile, the need to end the institutionalised for-profit model of direct provision remains urgent. 

We have an opportunity to address these challenges in tandem by also establishing a refugee agency as proposed in the Government’s own white paper on ending direct provision. 

This would not only address immediate reception and accommodation needs but would extend to the wraparound supports needed by individuals and families to access employment, education, and social protection services and to integrate into communities.

If this isn’t done, there is a real danger that we will continue to provide inadequate and piecemeal responses to the arrival of people seeking protection in Ireland.

Roosky native John Lannon, who is the CEO of Doras.

- John Lannon is CEO of the national migrant and refugee support organisation Doras.