The Minister for Justice has expressed determination to press ahead with his plans to deport hundreds of asylum-seekers whose applications have been refused.
Mr O'Donoghue said that unless they were given leave to stay on humanitarian grounds, rejected asylum-seekers would be given two choices: to leave voluntarily or be deported by the Garda. The Department of Justice is to appoint additional staff to speed up the hearing of appeals in asylum cases, the Minister said. Although the four sitting appeals authorities have heard 1,000 cases this year, there is a backlog of 1,500 waiting to be heard.
Mr O'Donoghue made the announcement at the start yesterday of the True Colours initiative, a two-week programme aimed at making Irish society more inclusive of immigrants, Travellers and other ethnic minorities.
Six protesters held up signs calling for "No Deportations" during his speech in Dublin Castle.
Speaking afterwards, the Minister outlined measures to counter a recent increase in the number of asylum-seekers coming to Ireland. About 250 people queued outside the Department's refugee applications centre in Dublin yesterday. Of these, 75 were new applications.
He promised that a voucher system for asylum-seekers to replace the current system of cash payments would be introduced once detailed proposals had been drawn up, and before the British government introduces such a system next April.
There was no alternative but to disperse asylum-seekers throughout the State because of the accommodation crisis in Dublin, where 85 per cent of arrivals were housed, he said. There had been a steady response to the newspaper advertisements placed by the Department urgently seeking accommodation for asylum-seekers.
Detailed proposals for the fingerprinting of asylum-seekers were also being finalised, and the Garda would probably be assigned this task, he added.
Asylum-seekers faced blatant and active racism as well as more subtle forms of discrimination based on fear and ignorance, the chairman of the Association of Refugees and Asylum-seekers, Mr Kensika Monshwengo, said. There was a direct correlation between negative media coverage and racist attacks, he said.
True Colours, which starts on November 8th, includes seminars and lectures, a film festival, concerts and conferences, all under the theme of multiculturalism. The programme is co-ordinated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Department's consultative committee on racism and interculturalism.