The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Joe Doyle, should be complimented on his efforts to promote cultural diversity and to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are welcomed to the city. At a press conference yesterday, the Fine Gael TD spoke of his ambition to promote racial integration when he launched an initiative entitled "Many Peoples - One City", designed to bridge the gap between natives and exiles. Mr Doyle accepted the task would be difficult and require effort from all concerned.
Dublin was becoming a city of greater diversity as we approached the new millennium, he said, and each and every inhabitant contributed to its life and culture. Integration would mean equality, understanding and respect between people of different social and ethnic backgrounds. As a people who had witnessed our citizens go abroad to seek food, shelter and a better life, we had a responsibility to consider the experiences and difficulties facing those people coming to Ireland, including asylum seekers and refugees.
A campaign by about 100 voluntary organisations, including the main Churches, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the National Organisation for the Unemployed, is already seeking change in official attitudes towards asylum seekers. Specifically, they have asked the Coalition Government to extend the right to work to those asylum seekers who have been waiting for more than six months to have their applications processed. This proposal was taken up by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, and submitted to Cabinet earlier this month, along with a suggestion that work permits for non-EU citizens should be issued on a statutory basis to help Irish employers cope with specific labour shortages. Ministers failed to agree to those changes but the Tanaiste is said to be determined to reopen discussion on the issue within a matter of weeks.
All of these matters emphasise the need for careful planning and preparation in dealing with asylum seekers and foreign workers. The Lord Mayor has supported publication of an information booklet on housing, health and social welfare in nine languages to allow newcomers understand and access the services they need. Dublin Corporation and the Eastern Health Board will train staff to deal with the particular needs of ethnic minority groups and to promote their integration into society. And, finally, a public awareness programme to promote a racially tolerant, open and integrated community will be launched.
These are all important elements of a humane immigration policy. But more needs to be done, especially in relation to the settlement pattern of asylum seekers. The tendency of various authorities has been to house these people in inner city areas, within already deprived communities, where friction becomes more likely because of constraints on asylum seekers taking up work. Far more thought and planning must be devoted to the accommodation and support of such people if they are to be integrated into our society. We should learn from mistakes made elsewhere and take the lead from the Lord Mayor's constructive initiative.