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Fear and Despair at the Burgh Quay GNIB
dublin |
racism & migration related issues |
feature
Monday March 07, 2005 21:56 by Rosanna Flynn - Residents Against Racism
A Day's Diary of an Anti-Racism Activist in Ireland
Anti-Racism activist, Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism, tells the stories of Asylum Seekers awaiting their fate at the Burgh Quay Garda National Immigration Bureau in Dublin.... I went to the GNIB at Burgh Quay Dublin to meet three people told to be there at 10am. First met Latafia from Nigeria and her husband A. They married in Ireland three years ago and A. has had a deportation order. Latafia has to have an operation soon and she is unable to conceive. Naturally she wants her husband with her. As she said, he is a good man who has stood by her through her health problems and what is the use of her being able to conceive. Without him she can't anyway. P. is also Nigerian and has two children born in Nigeria. One year ago her Irish-citizen baby died shortly after birth. The immigration officer questioned her about this, within the hearing of 6 or 7 people. The place was crowded. The officer did this in a most insensitive way. Because the baby died, she has no case as the mother of an Irish child. Her dead baby doesn't count. It is as if he never lived.
V. herself has two children, one born in Ireland. She was due to be deported before the new ruling and has been in hiding, helped by good friends, also Nigerian asylum seekers, who met her for the first time in Ireland. Now she has applied for her own residency status because she has an Irish child. Her children are not with her all the time, there is no room - another good asylum seeker takes care of of them. She sees them often and when she must leave, the older one asks 'When are you coming back?' So many in the afternoon, I almost lose count. Two other Residents Against Racism members come down to Burgh Quay. One Irish and one a Nigerian father of Irish children. One woman, C. who walks with a stick and looks frail, has two lovely daughters, one in primary and one in secondary school, they are with her. The younger girl tells me she loves playing gaelic football. Both have been in school for years and do very well. They are like the typical Irish schoolgirls. This family are so well integrated the school support for them and many people in the town in back where they live have petitioned the government for them to stay. They would be a credit to any community.... Another young Nigerian woman, A. again is totally integrated. She is allowed to work as she has been here before the law forbidding asylum seekers to work was passed. She also studies and pays her own fees. Like most people I met today she is very well educated. L. and E. from Galway and Limerick are single men from Nigeria who didn't attempt to become fathers of Irish citizen children. They are typical of the many men I have met over the last weeks. It is not true that most asylum seekers misuse the system to get residency as parents of Irish citizen children. That is what the government told as was happening before last June's referendum. These are some of the cases dealt with Thursday. Not all, by any means. The place was crammed with people and RAR can only touch the tip of the iceberg. The awful thing is we know similar cases are played out all over Europe. Thursday was a lesson in human misery. All these people we met are due back to Burgh Quay, most next week. They all live one day at a time.
12:30am Friday Night:
Another call, someone in hiding who didn't go to Burgh Quay, 'Can you advise me how I can get my ten year old son adopted by my friend who has full status here? Then I will go and he will be safe.' |
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Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Having read this article I find myself quite confused!
I would like to take this opportunity to direct some very specific questions to Ms Flynn.
1. On the day in question you met a number of asylum seekers. Can you explain why all were Nigerian?
I was particularily surprised to see a case where a Nigerian - claiming to be a victim of domestic violence - is an applicant for Convention protection in a country 3000 miles from home. Some of the questions that I would have - include:
1 Do you believe victims of domestic violence are entitled to Poltical Refugee status as envisaged in the 1951 Convention?
2 Is Nigeria unwilling or incapable of providing protection to victims of domestic violence?
3 How is Ireland meant to substantiate such a claim and what kind of resources should be applied to do so? Is it fair and reasonable that Irish people continue to pay for such claims?
4 How does one go from being a victim of domestic violence in Western Africa to an asylum seeker in an island country on the furthest periphery of Western Europe?
5 Did this woman enter this country legally?
6 Did she employ traffickers to arrive here?
7 If yes, how did she engage with them and how much did she pay?
8 How much planning went into picking Ireland?
9 Why was Ireland her country of choice for claiming asylum given its incredible distance from home and the numerous safe countries that lie between?
I trust you will correct any misconceptions I may have by addressing some of these questions. You wont hear them from any Irish Times reporters so they will no doubt come as a refreshing change.
Keep up the good work RAR. Lots of great coverage in the papers recently. Well done.
I believe that most people, including Irish nationals, are better living and working, as long-term residents, in their own country of origin.
Roisanna your writing brings out the humanity of the people at the GNIB - and I am not talking of the people that work there.
thank you