Video: Residents against Racism

by sovietpop Fri Jul 07, 2006 19:11 sovietpop at hotmail dot com

A group of women asylum seekers, their Irish children and local supporters held a protest at the Dail yesterday. They carried placards which asserted their desire to work and the right of their children to be treated no different to other Irish citizens. One women said that she had a degree and wanted to be able to use it, and many other asylum seekers her had skills that were being wasted. She and the other women were here for their children, because they deserved to have a future. They wanted to stay with their children in Ireland. They didn’t want to be forced to raise their children in detention centres or be forced apart by deportation. The crowd was addressed by Sinn Fein TD Arther Morgan, Independent Counciller Rosanna Flynn, Labour party TD Liz Mc Manus (I presume, she was there, but I had to leave early) and Rosanna Flynn from Residents Against Racism.

"My child deserves a future"

by Fintan Lane - Anti-War Ireland (Dublin) Fri Jul 07, 2006 19:28

"Independent Counciller Rosanna Flynn"

If only it were so! I assume this was meant to be a reference to Joan Collins?

by Gerri Fri Jul 07, 2006 23:30

To 'sovietpop'

You say 'A group of women asylum seekers, their Irish children', if these ladies are parents of Irish children, I don't see why they are protesting.

Don't you remember, a referendum was held and the result of that referendum was that the automatic right to Irish citizenship to all born on the island of Ireland was removed?

There was a subsequent amnesty for parents to children born in Ireland prior to 01 January 2005, meaning that parents of an 'Irish Born Child' were given leave to remain in Ireland in the interests of their child having the right to form a relationship with the parent. The children born before this date are Irish citizens.

This issue has nothing to do with asylum.

Children born after this date whose parents are non Irish nationals and who have not resided in the state for a specific amount of time are not automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.

This issue also has nothing to do with asylum.

The ladies with their children shown in your picture, if they are parents to Irish born children, are very likely to have Irish residency. In which case they have nothing, in terms of not being allowed to work etc, to be protesting about. I will assume that the ladies with their children in your picture are parents to children born after 01 January 2005 in which case they are not parents of Irish citizens.

Surely RAR are aware of this distinction?

'They didn’t want to be forced to raise their children in detention centres'
Can you please say who in Ireland is being forced to raise a child in a detention centre? What exactly are you referring to? I believe there is provision for breast feeding mothers to keep infants with them in prison for a set amount of time, but other than this can think of no other situation where people are forced to raise children in detention centres.

Perhaps some member of RAR could clarify the above.

by Madam K Sat Jul 08, 2006 00:17

"if these ladies are parents of Irish children, I don't see why they are protesting."
These women are protesting as many of them have been served with deportation orders for various bureaucratic reasons.

"Don't you remember, a referendum was held and the result of that referendum was that the automatic right to Irish citizenship to all born on the island (after 01/1/2005) of Ireland was removed?"
All these children were born before 01 January 2005.

"This issue has nothing to do with asylum"
This protest was about the childrens rights as Irish citizens to have their parents leave to stay in Ireland with full residency rights to work and provide for their children.

"Can you please say who in Ireland is being forced to raise a child in a detention centre?"
These familys are at present residing in centers for asylum seekers,with curfues and without the right to work, when they should be intergrating into Irish society and contributing with the many talents they posses.

by Cliona Sat Jul 08, 2006 00:19

I'm not a member of RAR, but the parents of children born prior to 2005 weren't automatically given residency. Some are still subject to deportation, for stupid reasons like they left the State during the time between their child's birth and their application under the IBC scheme.

by Gerri Sat Jul 08, 2006 01:00

If they are parents of Irish born children, i.e. born before 01/01/05, then these ladies are entitled to apply for residency on the basis that their children are Irish Citizens. As stated previously, there was an amnesty for parents of such children. The parents had to prove they had a relationship with the child, so this made it more difficult for fathers absent from the state to get residency on this basis. Mothers and fathers - of children born before 01/01/05 - can apply for residency as their child Ireland has signed up to various (Europe wide) legislation that states a citizen cannot be deported and a child has a right to maintain a relationship with a parent. These are facts. Can you be please clear about what you allege when you state: '

'These women are protesting as many of them have been served with deportation orders for various bureaucratic reasons.'

'Bureaucratic reasons ' is a term too vague to mean anything.

So all of these children were born after 01/01/05.

You state: 'This protest was about the childrens rights as Irish citizens to have their parents leave to stay in Ireland with full residency rights to work and provide for their children'

Again, if they are parents of Irish Born Children and can prove it, it is very unlikely that they will not get residency in Ireland and then after a set amount of years they may apply for Irish Citizenship themselves. I still don't see what this has to do with asylum. You are aware that 'asylum' means protection from persecution?

You state: ''These familys are at present residing in centers for asylum seekers,with curfues and without the right to work, when they should be intergrating into Irish society and contributing with the many talents they posses'

I don't doubt that these ladies possess 'many talents' and certainly I think if they are to remain in the state for any length of time they should work. However, your way of classifying the places at which they stay as 'detention centres' really has no basis in fact. Here their children are educated, they are fed and given shelter at great expense to the taxpayer. They are free to come and go as they please and are not incarcerated. Therefore it is incorrect to say that they are in detention centres. I don't doubt that the conditions there are less desirable than private acommodation, however it could be said that if conditions in their own countries are so unpleasant for them that they are here seeking asylum, i.e. having a genuine fear of persecution in their countries, they would be glad of the safety and shelter they are given here.

Genuine asylum seekers, i.e. refugees do not have to stay for very long in such centres as once they have been afforded refugee status they are afforded the same rights as Irish citizens in terms of housing etc.

Men, who had never set foot in Ireland and claimed to have fathered their children in their country of origin, claiming to be father's of children born in the state prior to 01/01/05 have been refused residency on the basis that they have not ever had any relationship with the child and could not prove that they were the biological father.

Incidentally, if the ladies in RAR's photograph were found to be genuine refugees they would not still be in accommodation centres for asylum seekers

by Question mark man Sat Jul 08, 2006 23:40

Did the RAR protest still go ahead?