Chai Brady
An Irish migrant rights group will join a national demonstration aimed at highlighting the impact of homelessness on the refugee, asylum seeking and migrant population taking place tomorrow (April 7) in Dublin.
Ireland Says Welcome, a membership group of human rights organisation Comhlámh, will march in solidarity with everyone in Ireland experiencing homelessness regardless of race, ethnicity and country of origin.
Speaking before the march, Sr Lena Deevy, a member of the Ireland Says Welcome group, said: “I am deeply worried about the impact that the housing crisis is having on new communities in Ireland.”
“Migrants often face additional problems when they seek housing, particularly those who don’t speak English fluently, who don’t have networks of friends and family here, and who have no experience of the complicated bureaucracy often involved in getting help.”
Sr Lena added that the group have seen Irish people “welcome refugees with open arms”, but that refugees can face additional problems adapting to new countries with the risks of poverty and homelessness in Ireland being “extremely high”.
Disproportionate
In June 2017, 37% of homeless families surveyed by Focus Ireland were headed by somebody born outside of Ireland. A disproportionate number of families in homelessness in Ireland are from migrant backgrounds, and these are most likely to be from outside the EU.
The group will march alongside migrant activists and solidarity groups including the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, Refugee and Migrant Solidarity in Ireland, and United Against Racism. The march is organised by the National Homeless and Housing Coalition.
Demonstrators will assemble at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square at 1pm.