ALMOST 4,000 vulnerable women and children are living in overcrowded, unsafe and inhumane centres for asylum seekers across the country, a report has claimed.
Families are made to sleep in single rooms and share bathrooms with other residents, while female residents regularly face abuse and sexual harassment at the 52 centres, which are contracted by the Department of Justice to house asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
The report, which was compiled by AkiDwA, an African women’s group in Ireland, shows half of the 6,482 people in “direct provision accommodation” have spent more than two years at the centres. Almost one-third have spent more than three years and some several years living in centres which are intended to house people for a period of no more than six months.
"At least as a prisoner you know when you are getting out – not when you are an asylum seeker," said one of the 121 asylum seekers interviewed for the report, entitled Am Only Saying it Now – Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Ireland.
Abolition of the “direct provision” system, which was set up in 2000 to meet an urgent need for accommodation for asylum seekers, is recommended in the report. The system disperses asylum seekers around the country to centres which provide them with lodgings, three meals a day and a daily allowance worth €2.73 for adults.
The report details a host of problems at the centres such as overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, lack of play areas for children, poor nutrition and a lack of privacy. It also identifies particular concerns for women and children, many of whom have fled sexual violence, abuse and other traumas in their home countries before arriving in the Republic.
“Women are being harassed here every day. The other day, a man in a car followed me and started shouting, ‘Have sex with me!’ ” one resident told the authors of the report.
At the launch of the report yesterday Ruth McNeely, director of the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre, said 30 per cent of its client base was made up of asylum seekers in direct provision centres. She said many women faced sexual exploitation from professionals they are dealing with, men in the centres and men in the local community.
“It’s inhumane, unsafe and dangerous,” she said.
Serious concerns are also raised about the attitude of management and staff at the centres, which are mostly run by private individuals.
“The manager himself is intimidating, uses bad language and verbal racial abuse, sometimes uses threats,” noted one asylum seeker in the report.
The report recommends the abolition of the current reception policy of provision and dispersal.