Courtney McGrailResettling refugees not a new issue
Currently the whole of Europe is greatly concerned about migrants arriving from the Middle East and from Africa. But this is not for Ireland a new problem. In between the wars and just after, small numbers of individual refugees from Germany, and later from Brittany, some with dubious political backgrounds, came to Ireland. But they seem not to have been seen as a problem, though at no time does the Government seem to have wanted large numbers.
This began to change. Ireland accepted groups of refugees for resettlement on later occasions from Hungry in 1956, from Chile in 1974, and from Vietnam in 1979-1981.
The Hungarian refugees, fleeing the consequences of the October uprising which was brutally suppressed by the Soviets, like so many of the Jews who had come to Ireland in the decades around 1900, were really in transit to the US. (But while they were encamped by the State at Shannon, they comforted themselves by distilling their traditional spirits, which led to a police raid and expressions of sympathy from a nation of poteen drinkers.)
Following the fall of President Allende and the seizure of power by the right-wing military under General Pinochet many Chileans fled abroad. Some 7,000 fled to Canada alone. Those who came to Ireland were quickly absorbed.
With fall of the Shah in 1979 and the installation of a revolutionary religious rule in Iran another problem appeared with the persecution of the Baha’i religion. The adherents of Baha’i were not Muslims, but held a broader, more humanist philosophy, but it was one abhorred by the regime in Iran, and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
Needs
There were by nearly 1,500 refugees in Pakistan. However, those coming to Ireland were offered full support by the established Irish Baha’i Community, many of whom were Irish nationals, who undertook to meet all their immediate needs. Ireland had taken a strong view on religious persecution around the world, a stand that continues to this day.
In July 1985, in the period governed by the new files, the Government decided to admit 25 Iranian Baha’i refugees (then in camps in Pakistan) for resettlement.
That year some 212 Vietnamese refugees were also admitted. The passage of many of these was paid by the Government. By 1985 there were 315 Vietnamese in the country.
Most of the Vietnamese refugees (then called “the boat people” – an echo of what is now happening) went to Australia, the USA and France. Those who came to Ireland, among whom were many children, were again settled quickly.
This resettlement system was organised by the Dept. of Defence (who had been involved in camps for families in Northern Ireland earlier). However, by September 1983 the Minister of Defence said he wished to close down the operation. This caused much concern to various charities and NGOs.
By May 1985 the Government was anxious about the establishment of permanent rather than reactive structures to deal with what was becoming an ongoing problem. Aside from government departments and agencies, Church related bodies were also involved, such as the Episcopal Commission for Emigrants.
Clearly there were problems in resettling people whose first language was not English, or even their second language (many of the Vietnamese would have spoken French).
Many NGOs, having protested about the closing down of the early programme, seem to have still seen the Department of Defence as having the right skills, the resources and goodwill to co-ordinate the tasks. 1985 ended with the future organisation still to be organised.
In trying to aid refugees by resettling them in Ireland the Government was recognising its obligations internationally. There was on all sides, a fund of goodwill to see that problems were resolved.
In the 30 years since then more and more non-nationals have settled in Ireland either as European emigrants or as refugees of one kind or another.
This has seen the emergence of significant Middle Eastern, Somali and Ethiopian communities, and also Muslims and Buddhists from Burma.
On the whole, however, despite the problems, Ireland’s record can be seen as a good one in this very difficult area, which is now proving both socially and politically divisive in Western Europe. It is a problem which will present Ireland with many difficulties soon, difficulties which the experiences of the past may help to solve.
Murder and society
Crime does not always loom large in the annual release of files, for various reasons to do with security and sensitivity.
Two files this year are relevant to the matter of rural murder. The earliest file released this year is one relating to the murder at Marlhill in Tipperary in 1940, for which a local farmer, Harry Gleeson, was later hanged.
The file contained only incidental papers and plans, in addition to files already in the archives which were used by those who obtained a posthumous pardon for Harry Gleeson, earlier this year, the first in the nation’s history. This case raised very serious issues about the conduct of the investigation, the behaviour of the police to witnesses, and a great deal of technical incompetence.
The other matter was a file relating to the now notorious “Kerry Babies” affair, in April 1984, or rather to the setting up of the official inquiry. The files on the inquiry will be released, hopefully, next year. What was discovered by the press and by that inquiry was very disturbing.
Personal conduct
The common factor in these two cases was the behaviour of the Gardaí, especially when it involved sexual matters and personal conduct disapproved by the community (though not illegal).
In the Marlhill murder trial the role of the IRA and the seeming reluctance of Seán MacBride, the junior barrister for the defence, though convinced of his client’s innocence, to probe the role of his erstwhile comrades in the IRA, in which he had been a leading figure, raises concern as well.
The country owes a great deal to the Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State, so it is all the more important that errant behaviours should be fully investigated, however embarrassing it may prove to the community. This is not a lesson from history. It is a fact of life.