The door to integrating refugees will remain locked until there is an acknowledgment of the continuing and legitimate presence of non-Irish people in Irish society, a conference in Dublin has been told.
Yesterday Ms Hope Hanlan, UNHCR's representative for Britain and Ireland, said no amount of words or legislation would improve integration unless there was a change in attitude. An acknowledgment of the legitimacy of refugees had to be expressed at the highest level of government. If there was not an unambiguous, robust, courageous approach, one could only expect prejudices to develop and the media to sink to low levels. She added: "It is not possible to walk through a door that is locked and the door to integration in Ireland is locked."
Ms Hanlan was speaking at a conference at Trinity College Dublin on the Integration of Refugees in Ireland, hosted by the Refugee Council, the UNHCR and Access Ireland, a refugee training project.
Opening the conference, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, defended the Government's approach, saying it had been "far from inactive" on integrating refugees. He planned to implement "without delay" the recommendations of an inter-departmental working group report. Proposals for a public awareness initiative on anti-racism and respect for cultural diversity would be brought to the Government before the summer, he said.
He also intended to commission a research project to identify specific needs of refugees, due to be completed within eight months, and he planned to implement the Refugee Act in its entirety by next month or May.
"Refugees living in Ireland can enrich our society and contribute to the continued development of our country," Mr O'Donoghue said. "They can do so by participating in the activities of the community and society and contributing from their own experiences, culture and background."
Ms Berenice O'Neill, director of Asylum Support Services, the inter-departmental body which drafted the report on integration, said those in positions of power, such as politicians and the media, had a critical role to play in creating a climate of acceptance.
"A tolerant, inclusive society is a basic prerequisite" to integration policies. She accepted the Government policy of dispersing refugees on a mandatory basis to centres outside Dublin was "not ideal" but it was necessary to overcome a chronic shortage of accommodation in the capital. "What has happened had to be done in an emergency," she said.
A number of delegates expressed concern that the dispersal scheme was counter-productive as asylum-seekers were now drifting back to Dublin and becoming homeless or falling out of the social welfare system entirely. Under the scheme, they are given full-board accommodation outside Dublin but if they chose to return to the capital, they cease to qualify for State benefits.
Ms Hanlan said the Government should address the issue as a matter of urgency before refugees started to return to Dublin in large numbers, thereby causing a further strain on accommodation. There had been some positive results from the scheme but only in areas where there was proper co-ordination between health, education, social welfare, housing and law-enforcement agencies, as well as local support.
Mr John O'Neill, who this week steps down as chief executive of the Refugee Agency, said Ireland needed to adapt not just to refugees but to a growing multi-ethnic society. About 46,000 immigrants came in Ireland last year, of whom only 10,000 were refugees, he said.
