Most refugees arriving in Ireland visit 11 Mount Street in Dublin to lodge their asylum applications and seek help in finding accommodation. Over the past few weeks, these people have found themselves, without any choice, being put on buses and `dispersed' to occupy `bed spaces' around the country.

Should refugees wish to move back to Dublin or go to another region, the Department of Family Affairs and the health boards will cut off their welfare payments, and they will not be entitled to assistance to cover deposits or rent on alternative accommodation which they may find.

In effect, they are detainees. They have neither a choice about where they go nor about whether they stay there. Last week, a Nigerian dispersed to the Midlands found himself obliged to return to accommodation to which he had been `dispersed', which he had found unbearable, or face starving on the streets. The constitutionality of this measure is highly questionable.

Bernie O'Neill of the Immigration Section of the Department of Justice and Declan O'Boyle of the Justice Department both confirm that refugees who have been `dispersed' to accommodation are not technically `in need' and therefore do not qualify for the normal survival payments which destitute indigenous people normally receive - Social Welfare payments.

Most of the accommodation which refugees are dispersed to is full board, though about one-third, on figures supplied to An Phoblacht this week by the Department of Justice, are `self-catering'. Payments refugees get are discretionary to their local health board, but in the case of full board a refugee may receive £15 per week, and perhaps £30 a week for self catering, out of which the refugee is expected to meet all needs. This includes nappies, toiletries, supplementary food, clothing, transport, and all activities which allow them to mix as human beings in the community they have been foisted on without any prior consultation with local councillors, local people, or the refugees themselves.

The `bed spaces' were offered to the Department of Justice, which advertised last December for help to meet the emergency at Mount Street. According to a spokesperson for the Justice Department, 9,000 `bed spaces' were offered, and the places were then checked out by the respective local authorities for suitability.

The Department, however, is anxious to stress that this is not a policy but a response to an emergency. Policy is to come later, when the newly established inter-departmental committee and the Directorate of Asylum Seekers (DASS) have had a chance to prepare one.

Last Friday, NGOs were called to a meeting at the Justice Department by Bernie O'Neill. The impression was that finally the Department was looking for consultation with and advice on policy which is in the process of formulation. But representatives from NGOs were amazed to find themselves directed into pre-arranged workshops, with prearranged topics for discussion, which presupposed dispersal and direct provision. They were only to be consulted on methods of implementing this emergency response.

The majority of NGOs represented at the meeting, which included Comhlámh, the ICCL, ARASSI, ARC, The Refugee Council, and many others, were enraged that they had been invited to discuss implementation of a policy with which they entirely disagreed - the forced dispersal of refugees and direct provision.

However, very scant information was provided by the Department at last Friday's meeting. Even figures for dispersal are hard to come by and are conflicting. Reports last Friday said 758 refugees had been dispersed to the eight health board regions, but figures released by the Department on Tuesday omit three health board areas and add up to 634 places so far.

When asked how long refugees will stay in this accommodation, the Department replies that it has negotiated varying contract lengths of three to nine months. As to where the refugees will go then, the Department talks vaguely of negotiations with the Office of Public Works (OPW) for properties. Are these the empty army barracks?

The `consultation' session in the Department took place last Friday. On Monday, the minister announced a £1 million scheme to combat racism in Ireland, but he failed to tell the NGOs of this at the Friday meeting. ``There was no consultation. The meeting was only window dressing'', reports Donncha O'Connell of the ICCL.

All day Tuesday, Sky News showed footage relating to the 70,000 refugees who have sought refuge in England, some of whom are now being held in prisons, with a commentary that the government `had achieved about the right balance between harsh conditions and letting England be seen as a soft touch for refugees'.

Dublin's Department of Justice has no policy here except to ensure that conditions are at least as unpleasant for refugees in Ireland as they are in England, so Ireland should not be seen either as a soft touch. The only policy is to keep them out.

What about providing for the integration and acceptance of refugees into local communities, welcoming and disseminating cultural diversity? What about translators, interpreters, legal assistance, learning English, educational programmes? These are the business of the other departments, Health, Education, Family Affairs, says the Justice Department. What about the appeals tribunal from which senior counsel Peter Findlay courageously resigned last week because it made a travesty of justice, or the 18 month delay for decisions on refugees' applications for asylum?

Above all, why is the Department of Enterprise advertising for and inviting workers from Eastern Europe to come here to fill jobs and yet at the same time is refusing the right to people who seek asylum here, whose spirit is broken by enforced idleness, who yearn to work here.

There is no other explanation except the colour of their skin.

``£1 million to combat racism in Ireland - they should start in the departments of government,'' a spokesperson for one of the NGOs remarked.

A welcome at the Clonakilty Lodge

 
Sixty-one refugees were packed onto a bus ten days ago in Dublin and ended up in Clonakilty, West Cork. The town is doing its level best to live up to its reputation for hospitality and generosity.

Roy and Margaret Maguire, who manage the Lodge, have welcomed the refugees, people who are lost and afraid, many of whom have experienced indescribable sufferings, too horrific to discuss. The Maguires are sympathetic to their situation. They are doing their best. The hotel is warm, comfortable, airy, and above all, safe. Roy Maguire talks of trying to make it one big family. He leaves with some refugees to go visit the local rugby club.

People in the town have brought up toys for the children, clothes for the refugees. Sinn Féin Councillor, Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin has spent many hours in the lodge. Voluntary English classes have been organised for the many refugees who have no means of communicating. The children are going to the local Irish school, and love it. Some refugees are already involved in local soccer leagues, and Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin has involved them in a singing group. People are up from the town inviting them to come out with them.

``It presents a marvellous opportunity,'' says Cionnaith, ``for the town to be able to meet, and learn of different cultures and experiences, which present an intense lesson in world politics and the legacy of colonialism in Africa. I hope we can arrange for the refugees to visit every school. Our community would be much the richer.

``At the same time,'' he says, ``no one should ignore the terrible situation that has been created by the Department of Justice. It has dumped these refugees into our town without any thought to the ambient racist propaganda against people who seek refuge in Ireland. There has been no provision by the government, health board or council to welcome them and explain to local people their situation and counteract ignorance or racist attitudes.

Of the refugees, he says: ``Everyone is confused. They don't know what is to happen to them, or where they are. There has been no contact with legal assistance, interpreters, or clarification of what is to happen to them. They don't know how long they are to stay.''

What happens when the tourist season starts? Government departments remain studiously silent.

The headlines scream that four out of five refugees are `bogus', the oft repeated catch cry of the Minister of Justice. ``It's not true of our refugees here,'' says Roy Maguire. ``Their stories would wither your very heart. They are too horrific to repeat. People need to come and talk with the refugees.''

The refugees themselves are relieved to be safe. Their gratitude to the town is already heart breaking. Roy was given what was headed ``an acknowledgement'' which spoke of ``having not come here to be a problem, but because of a problem, and their desire to contribute to the community.''

But that, of course, is just what they are not allowed to do. They are barred from working despite their holding many qualifications: hairdressers, international lawyers, writers, nurses, mechanics, carers, and so on. They are barred from educational courses. They receive only £15 per week. They have nothing to do except watch TV or play ludo. ``They are breaking our spirit. It is not part of our culture to take handouts,'' one Nigerian said. ``We are ashamed to sit around doing nothing.''

One young woman with a child in her arms talked, in beautiful French, of escaping along a road, bodies strewn about, of people dead or injured, nothing to eat or drink, nowhere to go, soldiers firing guns all about the place, the dreaded cholera, and, she said, ``it was all for oil they came to take.''

The refugees walk slowly, with great dignity, into the restaurant for tea, tortured people, thrown without choice, all together, into the confines of the pleasant Lodge hotel, allowed to do nothing, their self respect undermined, their suffering unnoticed.

It isn't easy. It won't be easy.