THE DEPARTMENT of Justice and the Reception and Integration Agency should treat asylum seekers in a “more humane” way and learn lessons from their handling of the transfer of 109 residents from Mosney, a report says.
The report by the Irish Refugee Council, which lobbies for asylum seekers’ rights, published today strongly criticises the Government for the compulsory transfer of Mosney residents at very short notice and without proper consultation or medical assessment.
The transfers from the former Butlins holiday camp in Co Meath to a Dublin hostel provoked several months of protests from residents. Residents said forcing them to move to a new hostel was disruptive because they had integrated into the local community and relied on medical care in the area.
Several of the last of the 109 Mosney residents handed transfer orders will today finally move to Dublin. This leaves just a handful of residents refusing to leave.
The council’s report on the compulsory transfer of residents from Mosney says the department may have violated the human rights of asylum seekers by conducting unannounced inspections of resident’s rooms and failing to consider individual’s medical needs.
The council interviewed 40 residents about an early morning inspection on August 26th, which it claims raised a number of issues of “grave concern”. It also wrote to the Garda National Immigration Bureau about a subsequent visit when its officers threatened to detain one of the residents unless she transferred to Dublin.
“The inspectors were reported to have been extremely reticent in explaining why they were conducting these inspections, which had left the majority of respondents upset and confused,” it says.
Two asylum seekers told the council the searches reminded them of the treatment they experienced in the African states they fled from. In three cases inspectors let themselves into rooms using a master key and in one instance a child was questioned in the absence of their mother.
The council says it is publishing the report because of the absence of any indication that the department is willing to engage in any consultation on the serious matters raised by the transfers.
“It is hoped that lessons will be learned by all parties which, in future, will lead to more humane treatment and a better system for reception of those seeking international protection,” it concludes.
The department said the transfers were part of cost-saving measures designed to save taxpayers more than a million euro.