Direct Provision – High Court allows asylum seeker family’s challenge; off-shore registered suppliers cost Irish government €800 million

Yesterday, the Irish High Court granted an asylum seeker family leave to challenge the direct provision system. The family claims the system has no legal basis, and that forbidding asylum seekers both from working and from receiving social welfare payments violates the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The Irish Refugee Council has declared that this case could be a step towards abolishing the system. Click here to read an article on TheJournal.ie. 

The direct provision system was set up in April 2000 to handle the large numbers of people claiming asylum in Ireland. There have been many criticisms of the system by campaigners. These criticisms focus on the forced poverty conditions created by the system, and asylum seekers’ difficulty accessing the legal system to resolve their refugee, subsidiary protection, and leave to remain applications. 

In July 2013, outgoing Irish Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly (now EU Ombudsman) wrote a powerful criticism of the direct provision system – click here to read more. 

UCD Law Lecturer Dr Liam Thornton recently published an opinion piece criticising the direct provision system – click here to read it. 

Meanwhile, the Irish Times has reported that since 2000 the Government has paid almost €800 million to private firms for the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers. Reporter Carl O’Brien has told PILA that this figure is based upon Department of Justice and Equality purchase orders for direct provision centres between 2000 and 2012.

The Irish Times also reports that most of the firms providing asylum seeker accommodation have now become unlimited companies registered in the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands. The effect of this off-shore status is that the firms are not required to provide details of their accounts. The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) is the body responsible for the provision of asylum seeker accommodation. The RIA says that all firms go through a tendering process and are contractually obliged to have valid current tax clearance certificates.

Click here to read Carl O’Brien’s article in the Irish Times. 

Ireland’s Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has defended the system of direct provision. Speaking in the Dail on 9 October, Minister Shatter stated that “While the direct provision system is not ideal, it facilitates the state in providing a roof over the head of those seeking asylum or seeking other grounds to be allowed, on humanitarian grounds, to stay in the State.”

Click here to read an article on TheJournal.ie summarising Minister Shatter’s comments.

Click here to read an August 2013 Bulletin article about a Northern Ireland High Court decision that heavily criticised the Republic’s direct provision system.

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