Written Answers - Asylum Procedures.
Thomas P. Broughan
Ceist:
51
Mr. Broughan
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
when he expects to bring legislative proposals to Government to establish on a statutory basis the new agency to deal with the reception of asylum seekers and the integration of refugees; the terms of reference of the agency; if the agency will be independent of his Department; if the agency will have its own budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[11009/01]
On 28 March 2000 the Government agreed with my recommendations for the establishment of a statutory agency, under the aegis of my Department, called the Reception and Integration Agency. It replaces the Directorate for Asylum Support Services and, with effect from 2 April last, incorporates the Refugee Agency. Pending the enactment of legislation the new agency is operating on a non-statutory basis.
The decision to establish the Reception and Integration Agency follows an earlier decision of the Government that the recommendations in the report of the interdepartmental working group on the integration of refugees in Ireland should form the framework for integration policy and be implemented. The establishment of a single organisational structure – within the overall framework of structures for asylum and immigration – for co-ordinating and implementing integration policy is one of the key recommendations of the working group. The Reception and Integration Agency is the vehicle for implementing this recommendation and its establishment facilitates a cohesive, co-ordinated approach to both the reception of asylum seekers and the integration of refugees.
The agency has responsibility for: planning and co-ordinating the provision of services to both asylum seekers and refugees; co-ordinating and implementing integration policy for all refugees and persons who, though not refugees, are granted leave to remain; and responding to conflict crisis situations which result in relatively large numbers of refugees arriving in Ireland within a short period of time, for example, the Kosovar nationals who were invited here by the Government in 1999.
The agency like its predecessor – the Directorate for Asylum Support Services – will continue to function on a cross agency/departmental, multi-disciplinary basis. In that regard, in addition to my own Department, staff assigned to it are drawn from the Departments of Health and Children, Social, Community and Family Affairs, Education and Science, Environment and Local Government, Dublin Corporation, the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the Defence Forces and the Irish Red Cross.
I have also recently appointed an interim advisory board to the new agency. This board is chaired by Mr. Raymond Rooney and has 15 members made up of seven members of the wider community and one representative each of the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Foreign Affairs, Social, Community and Family Affairs, Health and Children, Environment and Local Government and Finance as well as the Director of the Reception and Integration Agency on an ex-officio basis.
While it would be premature at this stage to set out in precise terms the nature or content of the legislation to be put in place in respect of the agency, I can confirm that my thinking is that it would be along similar lines to that which underpins other agencies and services in the wider Justice, Equality and Law Reform area. Moreover, I believe that the interim advisory board should also be afforded an opportunity to consider and to bring forward its views on this matter in advance of any decision on it by the Government.
