Irish Examiner view: Irish-Afghan aid scheme too restrictive
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she was “very conscious of the plight faced by the Afghan people following the collapse of the former Afghan government and the takeover by the Taliban”. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
A scheme allowing members of the Irish-Afghan community to apply for family members to join them here is so restrictive and bureaucratic that it is hardly worth the bother.
In September 2021, a month after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the Government promised an Afghan admission programme with up to 500 places.
The scheme opened on December 16 and was due to end today, but there have been so few applicants who meet the strict criteria that less than 20% of those places have been filled.
The deadline for applications has been extended to March 11 but unless some common sense is brought to bear in dealing with applicants, this scheme is well on the road to being a dismal failure.
When Justice Minister Helen McEntee launched the programme last December, she declared that she was “very conscious of the plight faced by the Afghan people following the collapse of the former Afghan government and the takeover by the Taliban”.
She said the scheme would prioritise those who are especially vulnerable and whose freedom and safety is most at risk, such as older people, children, single female parents, single women, and girls and people with disabilities.
However the strict requirement to produce identity and other documentation for each individual is particularly unfair for women. In Afghanistan, women are hardly allowed to go outside their own door.
Junior minister James Browne said the Department of Justice’s objective would be to “to ensure that applications can be processed as quickly as possible and the criteria have been developed with this in mind”.
It is now becoming increasingly clear that the operation of the scheme needs urgent review.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has received hundreds of queries about the scheme. According to managing solicitor Catherine Cosgrave, “very few people have actually been able to meet all the requirements”.
Another huge barrier is the financial requirements. Applicants must prove they can house and financially support the family members they are looking to bring to Ireland.
Asking someone who is on a low wage, not working, or who is living in a direct provision centre to provide a home for family members on arrival is not just unreasonable, it is cruel.
As well as that, unlike those brought here under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, Afghan refugees will not have access to social welfare, housing supports, or child benefit.
In fairness to the Department of Justice, it has already provided sanctuary here to dozens of Afghans fleeing danger.
More than 100 Afghan nationals have been granted statutory family reunification permission under the 2015 International Protection Act. That makes the failure of this programme all the more notable.
Meanwhile, anxiety grows for Afghans living here as the humanitarian crisis in their native country worsens.
It isn’t just the Taliban that Afghans have to worry about. The UN has warned that some 23m people are at risk of starvation there, with the economy collapsing under the weight of international sanctions.
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