Several Syrian refugees who have been living in direct provision since arriving in Ireland last September have won the right to be paid full jobseeker’s allowance.
The refugees, among a group of 30 who have been accommodated in Mosney, Co Meath — a former Butlin’s holiday camp — due to a lack of housing elsewhere, had €166.90 deducted from the weekly allowance of €188.00, leaving just €21.10.
The allowance had been paid only since February when the refugees were finally handed Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) cards, even though they had been issued on December 16, 2016.
In letters to the appeals officer in the Department of Social Protection, the refugees argued they were entitled to full jobseeker’s allowance and that it should be backdated to December. They were informed last week that they had won their appeal on both counts.
The decision came in the same week that a seven- judge Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Republic’s ban on asylum seekers working was unconstitutional. The judges will not make a formal order on this for six months to allow the Oireachtas to consider how to address the situation.
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The Syrians argued that they had been promised the same rights as Irish citizens when they arrived from Greece as “programme refugees”. They pointed out they were not living in the reception centre by choice, and claimed they had not been helped to integrate in Ireland, or given enough English-language classes.
The refugees also complained about having to wait until February 6, more than six weeks, for their GNIB cards, which delayed their registration for jobseeker’s allowance. They asked how they could be expected to look for a job while being given just €21.10 a week.
“I want to work and I want to study and I need to go to Dublin to find work and study,” one refugee told the appeals officer. “One return bus ticket to Dublin is €15. How am I to look for work if I have not enough to buy more than one return bus ticket?
“Please give me the proper allowance I was promised as a programme refugee. It is the only chance I have of becoming a real person in Ireland.”
The Department of Social Protection said it did not comment on individual cases.
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In 2015, the government approved the establishment of an Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) and agreed to accept up to 4,000 people under the EU’s relocation and resettlement plans. “There are two strands in the IRPP. Both groups are being accommodated initially in Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres and receive accommodation, meals and other services,” the department said.
Once refugees have “status”, they are also entitled to the full rate of child benefit of €140 per child per month, it pointed out.