ASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCATES have said Ireland has a discriminatory “two-tier” refugee system and blamed the rise in far-right aggression on failed government policies, particularly when it comes to housing.   

“I don’t think it’s a two-tier system, it is a two-tier system,” said Lucky Khambule, co-founder of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI).

Khambule spoke to The Journal this week at an Ireland For All press conference promoting an event that will celebrate World Refugee Day in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance next Tuesday.

Khambule is himself a former refugee from South Africa who came to Ireland in 2013 and spent some years in the Direct Provision system in a centre outside Cork. He co-founded MASI in 2014 in an effort to advocate for asylum seeker rights and call for an end to Direct Provision. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Ireland has taken in almost 85,000 refugees who have fled the war. Those refugees are not subject to the same process as people coming from other countries around the world. 

Not long after the war began, in March last year, the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time in its history. The purpose of the directive is to loosen asylum system restrictions in the case of a mass influx of displaced people from non-EU countries. 

Under the directive, Ukrainian refugees are entitled to more freedom than those fleeing war or persecution in other parts of the world. 

Upon arrival, Ukrainians are issued with a PPS number, which allows them to avail of social services. They are also allowed to work immediately, get access to all levels of education and have been accommodated in the homes of people generous enough to offer them as part of a government initiative.

They are not subject to the normal, lengthy process through which the state determines the validity of their claim to international protection.  

Ukrainians have also initially been housed in hotels and other large buildings made available to the state, like the old terminal in Dublin Airport.

They also have the freedom to choose which country to seek refuge in, which is impossible for other asylum seekers under the Dublin Regulation.

For people seeking asylum who come from other parts of the world, the experience is very different. 

They end up in a Direct Provision centre, where they stay while their international protection applications are processed, which can take months or – in many cases -years. 

Unlike Ukrainian refugees, those who find themselves in the Direct Provision system do not have the right to work upon arrival and must wait five months before they can apply for permission to do so. 

Additionally, if someone chooses to leave the Direct Provision system, they lose their entitlement to state assistance, such as the €38.80 weekly social welfare payment or help finding housing once their claim is processed. 

“We have been talking about this since March last year,” said Khambule, “and obviously the government is defending that, but the stats keep coming in terms of the numbers and the details of what money has been spent, what support has been given.

“It’s there in black and white. You can’t deny it.”

He laments that people coming from countries other than Ukraine “are left to sleep on the street and subjected to hate and racism”.

“And the language that is used by the government as well is such that it supports that: because they are our neighbours, we act a little bit faster. So people that come from Yemen or people that come from Pakistan, Palestine, Congo, wherever, they are down the list. So that’s what it is.”

Darragh Adelaide, of United Against Racism and Clondalkin For All, agrees that Ireland’s asylum system discriminates against people coming from countries other than Ukraine. 

“People have called it an apartheid system. We’re treating Europeans a different way than we treat Africans and people from the Middle East or Asia. What it shows is the entire time that we didn’t have to have a system of direct provision.

“It’s a completely unnecessary system, a for profit system I’d say as well which has generated a massive amount of money for a few individuals and companies and managers.

“There is absolutely discrimination now between white Ukrainians and you know, black Africans who are coming in seeking asylum and it’s completely unfair. It’s absolutely not necessary at all.

Adelaide does say that Ukrainian refugees face problems of their own in Ireland but that the level of government support for them still differs significantly compared to other nationalities. 

“The Ukrainians aren’t getting treated amazingly. A lot of them did end up in tents. A lot of them are kind of left in the lurch, but the fact that they have been given PPS numbers, it means that they could have done this with all asylum seekers from the beginning.” 

The subject of Ireland’s refugee policy towards Ukrainians versus those from elsewhere has come up in the Dáil on more than one occasion. 

Earlier this year, in February, independent TD Catherine Connolly described it as a two-tier system. 

“We are here now with a background of Direct Provision and we have a two-tier system. The Minister knows that and he justifies it by saying it is an EU directive. Somebody from Ukraine does not have to go through the same process as others,” she told the Dáil. 

In response, minister Roderic O’Gorman, whose department oversees the asylum system, said:

“International protection means fairly and humanely examining a claim for asylum; sheltering and supporting people while that claim is assessed; and giving people the right to stay here in safety where it is adjudicated that they need it. We should not be ashamed of doing that or shy away from it.”

World Refugee Day, which was first designated by the UN in 2001, takes place on Tuesday 20 June.

The event at the Garden of Remembrance on Tuesday – to take place at 5.30pm – was organised  by a number of advocacy groups who encourage people to welcome and celebrate refugees and the positive influence they can have on society. 

It’s being described as a family-friendly event and there will be a number of speakers and performers.