Groups working with immigrants have criticised three new voluntary programmes to assist asylum-seekers wishing to return to their countries of origin.
The programmes are aimed at non-EU parents of Irish children, and at all nationalities irregularly here, including unaccompanied minors, who do not have the means to return to their countries of origin.
Operated for the Department of Justice by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM), the programmes will help with organising flights, tickets, and passports as well as finding jobs and accommodation once participants have arrived back in their countries of origin.
However, while welcoming the programmes as potentially positive, immigrant support groups criticised the January 2004 deadline for immigrants wishing to participate.
Ms Hilka Becker, legal consultant with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, said some 11,000 families of Irish children faced deportation on foot of a Supreme Court decision in January. However, not all these families had yet received letters of intention to deport them.
She said once a family received this letter they had 15 working days to make a submission on why they should be allowed to stay. As these submissions were taking up to four months to process, she said, it would be impossible for the families involved to participate in the programme within the timeframe.
Ms Magdalena Majkowska, information assistant with the IOM in Dublin, said the organisation regretted that people would only have until the end of January to apply. "We are hoping it might be extended, but that was the timeframe we were given by the Department."
A spokeswoman for the Department said a unit with 150 staff was being established to process immigrants' submissions on being allowed to remain.
"From our point of view it wouldn't make sense for families to go through the process of having their submissions dealt with and then, if they are unsuccessful, them going through the voluntary return programme as well."
Asked if this meant families had to decide to go voluntarily, or to apply to stay and then face possible deportation, but not both, she said: "Well, yes."
The programmes come on foot of a pilot voluntary return programme run by the IOM since November 2001.
