Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund is a mechanism to address issues relating to the lack of integration and diversity in sectors of Irish society. While we pride ourselves on being welcoming people, the reality can be very different for migrants and people of colour who experience anything from microaggression to racially motivated attacks. The recent incident of performers from "The Lion King" musical being subjected to racial abuse in Dublin is just one of many examples we could draw on. The State needs to direct its resources to ensure greater equality and integration. The Government still claims that 2024 is the target for ending direct provision, but the slow pace does not indicate to those trapped in the system that this will be achieved. We still have entire families in congregated settings often separated from the local communities, with integration being left to very dedicated local volunteers and the good faith of schools, doctors and community organisations.

When I raised this issue last July, the Minister assured me that families and children are being moved to independent living accommodation, which is most welcome. However, he neglected to mention that families may be moved considerable distances. In one case, a family was moved from Cork to Donegal, ignoring the children's integration in their schools or the support network the family had built up over years in the area. The International Protection Accommodation Service is trying to solve one problem while creating a whole new set of issues. Where is the consideration of the people involved? If integration is the goal, why is it not taken seriously in making these decisions?

Gender-based violence has rightly been a major focus recently. Migrant girls and women are disproportionately represented in statistics. They are particularly vulnerable due to different factors such as their migration status, ability to speak English and the type of work in which they are predominantly employed. Shortly before Christmas, representatives of the Migrants Rights Centre Ireland presented to the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. They pointed out that migrant women continue to experience barriers in exiting situations of domestic violence and accessing support services. Women are fearful because their status is linked to a partner's entitlement to retain immigration status following a separation from a partner. While there have been some limited measures to address this, we need proper reform in this area.

These situations raise the question about how the immigration system makes migrants more vulnerable. For example, undocumented people often do not access services or report crimes for fear it will result in their deportation. The scheme to regularise undocumented people is an important development, but we need guarantees or a firewall approach that prevents information being passed from, for example, the Department of Social Protection to the Department of Health, or from the Department of Health to the immigration office.

Stable diverse communities are an essential pillar of integration. For the most part it happens naturally in neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces. For this to happen we need accessible and affordable housing. Migrants and minorities are over-represented in homelessness figures. We need a whole-of-government approach to integration to understand these interconnected issues. These are just some examples. Migrants, people of colour, Travellers and others experience discrimination in different ways every day. Some of these barriers are a matter of policy and need to be changed. Others relate to interventions around training and support, which can be paid for by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

However, the fund is also used for return management and countering irregular migration. Many Irish people are deeply uncomfortable with the reality behind these phrases. Migrants drowning in the Mediterranean and deaths in south-east Europe, especially in winter, such as the case of 12 migrants who froze to death near Turkey's border with Greece this week, represent a failure to understand and respond adequately to the situation. These aspects of the fund are very concerning and need greater scrutiny.

We need to push for the progressive use of the fund, not putting the lives of migrants at risk. The previous Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund was used to support organisations working in the area, including, Nasc, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, and in Cork city Gaisce and Cork ETB. There was also investment in schemes providing employment readiness training and diversity training in schools. We need to use the current fund to further this type of work and to foster the type of Ireland the vast majority of Irish people want.

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