The Government should introduce an integrated and representative approach to immigration policy, according to a new study.
The study, Labour Migration into Ireland, was published by the Immigrant Council of Ireland yesterday, and also recommends the right of residency for migrant workers who have been here for four years, a joint residence-employment permit, and that permits be issued to employees rather than employers.
The ICI study also calls for a statutory right to family reunification for immigrants, for a clampdown on abuses by unscrupulous recruitment agencies, and for a system for regularising the situation of undocumented migrants, similar to that operated in the US for Irish emigrants in the 1980s. The chair of the ICI, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, pointed out that no one Government Department is responsible for immigration, and there is little co-ordination between the main statutory Departments. Immigrants are not properly represented in either the statutory or community and voluntary sectors, she said.
"There's no coherent legislative or social policy on immigration in this country," she said. "It's all ad hoc, piecemeal, and geared to meet the demands for labour, and it does almost nothing to protect the needs of immigrants and their families."
Dr Piaras MacEinri, who edited the report, stressed that immigration is here to stay, driven by various factors, including increasing globalisation and the strength of the Irish economy. The present Irish immigration system is largely market-driven, doing little to protect the rights of migrant workers and their families, the report states.
Dr Maurice Manning, president of the Human Rights Commission said: "It could well be argued that the driving force behind much of our legislation in this area has at times been control-driven, with the rights of the individuals concerned on occasion being treated as a secondary issue within the legislative process."
There would always be a need for states to exercise some control over their borders, but it was essential than in doing so people be treated as individuals with rights, he said.