Mags Gargan
Bishop Kevin Doran has condemned the “inhumane” living conditions of asylum seekers in the direct provision system, comparing them to prisoners out on day release.
Bishop Doran, who is a member of the Council for Justice and Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the processing of asylum applications “remains unacceptably slow”, and the “conditions under which people are expected to live in direct provision centres are inhumane”.
Employment
“While they are technically free to come and go, they are effectively little more than prisoners with day release. Asylum seekers are not allowed to accept any employment, no matter what skills they have,” he said.
“In most direct provision centres, there is no opportunity for parents to even prepare a meal for their children, which would be a basic feature of normal family life. Children grow up with little experience of family and are, therefore, deprived of a model on which to build their own families in the future.”
In an opinion column on TheJournal.ie the Bishop of Elphin also said he regrets “the slow pace at which Ireland is receiving refugees from the war zones of Syria and Iraq”. “I think we could certainly be more proactive in welcoming unaccompanied minors and providing them with their immediate needs in terms of protection, family-type support and education.”
Involvement
Bishop Doran said that the Irish Church is “willing and indeed anxious” to play a part in the welcoming of refugees. “The reception of refugees clearly has to be managed professionally, but that should not exclude the involvement of properly trained or suitably experienced volunteers.”
The bishop added that in his own experience the children of asylum seekers, while given access to primary and secondary education, are not able to participate in many of the optional programmes provided by schools, such as swimming, sports outings or special classes, and “this is one way in which local communities could give practical assistance”.