Bill on migrants criticised as unclear

THE GOVERNMENT’S latest version of its Immigration Bill still fails to provide clear rules on who can come and live in Ireland and what conditions and rights they have, a leading NGO has warned.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland said yesterday that the proposed Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 would result in inconsistent decision-making, delays and a continued reliance on the courts to decide many cases.

Provisions enabling the State to deport migrants without any possibility of appealing a decision would also breach Ireland’s human rights obligations, the council said in a paper on the new Bill.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0921/1224279369187.html

Immigrants should be screened on arrival

Immigrants arriving in Ireland should be obliged to undergo a medical examination, the overwhelming majority of Irish people think, according to the latest Sunday Independent poll.

Some 76 per cent of those polled said that in view of the outbreak of Tuberculosis (TB) in Cork last week, all arriving immigrants should be required to undergo a medical examination.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/immigrants-should-be-screened-on-arrival-poll-2316057.html

Migrants not "going home"

The level of calls to the Immigrant Council of Ireland’s (ICI) Information and Referral Service in the first half of 2010 has remained consistent with previous years and does not support the rhetoric that migrants are ‘going home’ and instead highlights that many migrants have made Ireland their home.

While some migrants have returned to their countries of origin, they are mainly migrants from the EU12 accession states.

http://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/press_detail.php?id=145

Migrant young people bullied in schools

NEW research has warned of the "potential for conflict" between immigrant and native Irish children as young foreign people in Ireland battle with language barriers.

Migrant children are experiencing racism and bullying and even more aggressive attitudes and actions, according to research by the Trinity Immigration Initiative. Multiple studies from the college also looked at how migrants were coping with work, integration as well as the courts.

Read more: http://irishexaminer.com/ireland/study-migrant-young-people-bullied-in-schools-123882.html#ixzz0sT6mEgLC

Immigrants stay put despite recession

A MASSIVE 'exodus' of immigrants who made Ireland their home has not materialised due to the recession, new research has found.

However, unemployment has been rising faster amongst new EU member state migrants than amongst Irish workers, the study from the Trinity Immigration Research Programme revealed.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/immigrants-stay-put-despite-recession-2241327.html

Number of migrants voting in local elections rises 44%

THERE WAS a 44 per cent increase in the number of immigrants who voted in last year’s local elections, following a campaign which encouraged more immigrants to register and vote.

The campaign, by the Africa Centre and the New Communities Partnership, aimed to encourage 10,0000 more immigrants in 10 local authority areas to get involved in the June elections. An additional 15,681 immigrants registered and voted in those 10 areas.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0616/1224272616926.html

Two-thirds of immigrants planning to stay

TWO-THIRDS of immigrants plan to stay in the Republic despite the recession and many working in jobs below their skill level, a new reports shows.

An EU-funded report on the training needs of young immigrants found 68 per cent of immigrants planned to stay on.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0508/1224269946958.html

Nigerians death being used as excuse to promote interculturalism

PROMOTING integration in the community where tragic teenager Toyosi Shittabey was knifed to death will be the best tribute to the slain schoolboy, councillors have said.

Fingal County Council is to convene a meeting in Tyrrelstown to discuss the provision of better facilities "to assist interculturalism and a cohesive community".

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/councils-aim-to-unite-community-where-toyosi-lived-2135682.html

Migrants' group calls for reform of work permit system

The campaign, which is being launched today in Dublin, is calling for a change in the regulations governing the approximately 25,000 migrant workers currently in the Employment Permit System.

As the system currently operates, these workers are only allowed to work for the employer designated on their permit. They are not allowed to freely change employer.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/migrants-group-calls-for-reform-of-work-permit-system-117115.html#ixzz0l03XAnA8

Thousands of marriages 'illegal'

Thousands of foreign couples who married at their country’s embassies in the Republic over the past three years are being told their marriages are invalid and illegal.

The problem has sparked a diplomatic row between the Government and several EU states, which have asked Spain – current holder of the EU presidency – to mediate on their behalf. The decision by the Government also affects the citizens of non-EU states, whose embassies conduct marriage ceremonies.

Last week the General Register Office wrote to all foreign embassies informing them that marriages performed by diplomatic missions were not recognised as marriages unless they conformed to Irish law. The note said marriages would not be legal unless they were performed by an authorised registrar and took place in a registered building which was open to the public.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0310/breaking32.html

Migrant workers 'get less favourable treatment'

FOREIGNERS are only half as likely as Irish nationals to have favourable working conditions here, new figures reveal.

And those working in the hotel and restaurant sector are faring badly, with the worst rate of access to favourable working conditions in every category.

Almost twice as many non-Irish nationals did not expect to be in their current job in six months, as compared to Irish workers. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday published its national household survey on working conditions for the first quarter of 2008.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/migrant-workers-get-less-favourable-treatment-2080650.html

Migrants shunned for points on licence

Immigrants convicted of minor road offences are being barred from becoming citizens, it was claimed today.

Social justice campaigners said the citizenship process appeared designed to turn away migrants rather than welcome them.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), which will hold a think-in tomorrow on migration and identity at University College Dublin, called for an overhaul of the system to make it fairer and more efficient.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/migrants-shunned-for-points-on-licence-2075379.html

Immigrants unable to renew permits over admin blunder

THOUSANDS of immigrants are terrified they could yet lose their eligibility for citizenship after they found themselves unable to renew their residency permits over the past six weeks.

Parents of Irish-born children, who have to renew these permits every three years. were being turned away by gardaí this year even though INIS had taken advertisements in newspapers last December saying that GNIB and local immigration offices were now taking charge of processing the permits. Up to 17,000 immigrants have this IBC/05 status due to their children’s Irish birth.

Such immigrants cannot legally work in this country without an up-to-date permit and the Immigrant Council of Ireland say several have contacted them to say they have lost their jobs over a lack of up-to-date documentation.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/immigrants-unable-to-renew-permits-over-admin-blunder-112181.html#ixzz0fd3tigQ9

Rise in foreign nationals claiming welfare

The amount of foreigners claiming social welfare in Ireland has risen despite large numbers leaving the country, it has been revealed.

Of the 118,000 people arriving in Ireland in 2004, 10% registered for benefits but that figure jumped to almost a quarter last year.

The Central Statistics Office blamed rising unemployment for driving greater numbers of migrants to the dole.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/rise-in-foreign-nationals-claiming-welfare-1987234.html

Immigrant queries on redundancies up

Almost 500 people contacted the Immigrant Council of Ireland about job losses compared with just 70 calls in 2008.

“We have heard rhetoric about the recession taking the urgency out of the need for immigration reform because migrants are supposedly going home,” chief executive of the council Denise Charlton said.

“There are lots of people who are not going home, they’re Irish now or they’re married to someone Irish or their children are Irish.

“What makes up the Irish population has changed for good and despite the recession we still have to ensure that we have a system that can respond to that.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1218/breaking51.htm

Ireland ‘among worst’ for racism

IRELAND ranks among the worst countries in Europe in terms of discrimination against ethnic minorities from sub-Saharan Africa, a European report has revealed.

The Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) surveyed more than 23,000 people from ethnic minority and immigrant groups about their experiences of discrimination, racist crime, and policing in the EU. Members of the Roma people said they suffered more discrimination across the whole of Europe, but in Ireland sub-Saharan Africans were more likely to be discriminated against.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ireland-among-worst-for-racism-107510.html#ixzz0ZJkpBPLr

One in 250 natives of Mauritius live in Ireland

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern has confirmed that one in 250 of the Republic of Mauritius’s inhabitants have opted for life on these altogether greyer shores.

A total of 5,000 of the island’s 1.25 million Mauritian nationals are registered with the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

So great is the lure of Ireland that the Mr Ahern has been forced to clamp down on Mauritians’ visa requirements.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/one-in-250-natives-of-mauritius-live-in-ireland-107402.html#ixzz0ZFDjLxLp

Warning of rise in racism

IRISH ATTITUDES towards immigrants are hardening as people search for someone to blame for their worsening economic situation, a leading NGO has warned.

Crosscare Migrant Project, which provides information to migrants, has also appealed to the Government to maintain funding for projects to assist immigrants to integrate into Irish life.

Conor Hickey, director of the Crosscare Migrant Project, said yesterday people “rolled out the red carpet for migrants” willing to do the jobs they were not willing to do a few years ago. This carpet is being “rolled back” against a backdrop of rising unemployment and the threat of racism, he said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1126/1224259488680.html

Mayor of Limerick: "Send home jobless nationals"

THE Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kevin Kiely, has called for the deportation of EU-nationals who have failed to secure employment since their arrival here.

"I'm calling for anybody who is living in the State and who can't afford to pay for themselves to be deported after three months. We are borrowing €400 million per week to maintain our own residents and we can't afford it," the outspoken politician said this Wednesday.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/Mayor-of-Limerick-Send-home.5814604.jp

Child benefit changes urged for foreign nationals

Child benefit payments to foreign nationals whose children live outside the State should be reduced significantly, according to a report on social welfare fraud by an Oireachtas committee.

About 7,000 EU nationals resident in Ireland are claiming child benefit for 11,000 children living outside the State. This is projected to cost the exchequer about €20 million this year.

The report says it is “not appropriate” to pay the Irish rate of child benefit for children in other countries where the cost of living is significantly lower.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1022/1224257226342.html