Syrian refugees living in Roscommon have called for the Irish Red Cross to stop managing their resettlement cases.
The 30-strong group of single residents living in the Abbeyfield Centre in Ballaghaderreen have signed a letter urging the Department of Justice to step in and take control.
In the document, seen exclusively by Drivetime on RTE Radio 1, the signatories claim there has been a lack of any progress in advancing their position, leaving them feeling like "prisoners in a plan" that is "depressing their ability to join Irish society".
The claims have been robustly denied by both the Department of Justice and the Irish Red Cross - both insist everything possible is being done to find the refugees suitable accommodation.
Last year around 200 Syrian refugees were moved to an Emergency Reception Centre (EROC) in Ballaghadereen where many of them were told they would be moved to longer term accommodation around the country within six months.
Last December families were offered homes in places like Donegal, Mayo, Kilkenny and Co Louth. They were housed by local authorities in conjunction with the Department of Justice - but the department tasked the Irish Red Cross with rehoming the single men and a small number of single women.
However, in response to the issues raised by the resident, both the Department of Justice and the Irish Red Cross released a statement to the Drivetime show.
"Like prisoners" unable to join Irish Society- Frustrated #Syrian #Refugees complain to @irishredcross & @DeptJusticeIRL @drivetimerte @RTERadio1 pic.twitter.com/PUBAdQg0uH
— John Cooke (@johncookeradio) March 5, 2018
The statement read: "The only solution for single refugees coming to Ireland through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme is accommodation offered through the Irish Red Cross and the Department has complete confidence in the Irish Red Cross in this regard."
The statement also points to the Irish housing crisis as contributing to long delays in funding homes and added that local authority housing is not a solution for single Syrian refugees due to low housing stock and high rents.
It further outlines how the Irish Red Cross is trying to match single Syrian refugees with offers of accommodation made by families and property owners at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015. However, as the refugees didn’t arrive in Ireland until 2017 it is not clear if those offers are still available and whether they are now suitable places to house the refugees.
In response to claims in the group’s letter that some of them had no contact at all from the Irish Red Cross, the Department said: "This allegation is simply not true. Most of the refugees received their refugee status towards the end of summer 2017 and it was only then that the Irish Red Cross could engage with them in terms of placing them into accommodation. 19 refugees have been placed and housed from Ballaghaderreen and 27 are on Irish Red Cross books remain to be placed.
"Casefiles have been opened and active matching process is
underway for 18 (of the 27) remaining clients in Ballaghaderreen. Of this 18, four refugees have been offered housing and there are negotiations under way in this regard.
"A further three refugees have only specified a move to Dublin or/and Cork. The remaining nine refugees have not engaged with the Irish Red Cross and therefore their case files cannot be opened to commence the matching to accommodating process.
"The letter (seen by Drivetime) is a reflection of the misunderstanding and interpretation of what the refugees are entitled to in Ireland when it comes to housing, although these realities have been exhaustively explained to refugees by both the Department of Justice staff and the Irish Red Cross.
"Unfortunately, refugees often receive contradictory and incorrect information from other well-intentioned sources which simply causes confusion…the Irish Red Cross also supports refugees who find their own private rented accommodation; in particular the Irish Red Cross assists with the completion of Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) applications.
"However, this avenue is frequently unsuitable for many refugees as it requires payments from refugees to top-up up the Housing Assistance Payment funding and refugees do not usually have the means to do this.
"As refugees, they are of course perfectly entitled to leave an EROC at any stage as they have the same general entitlements as Irish citizens. The reality is that without the supports offered by the programme, it is unwise for refugees to leave without solutions and supports in place."
Here is the full text of the refugees’ letter seen by Drivetime:
"We, signed on the back of this paper, we are asking the responsible to settle our situation like what they did with the
other groups of single refugees here in the Republic of Ireland.
As an implementation of equality and non-discrimination between refugees groups that fall within the same situation as registered asylum seekers in the EU relocation Programme.
We kindly as the responsible to discharge the red cross from our case and reinstate us under the plan of "The Department of Justice and Equality."
Most of us have been here in EROC centre for more than a year.
The Red Cross is not experienced in our case and their plan abolishes some of our previous rights as relocation program asylum seekers.
And making the housing process more difficult and tightening the initial requirements that we can not possibly find.
All humanitarian aid organisations and committee volunteers come to help and support families over the other singles like us who left or lost their families behind. We are not asking for support and help, the only thing we ask is our previous rights like the right of permanent housing with the government instead of temporary housing with the Red Cross.
We are the group of single males and females refugees here in EROC center. We see ourselves capable to join the Irish society and starting our higher and professional education, paying our taxes and contributing to develop the Irish society in our turn with our experiences in medicine, engineering, IT technologies etc.
We found ourselves as prisoners in a plan that depress our ability to join the society.
If we were born here, then we would own companies by now... but remember that we came from war not from lack of experience! It is obviously not the same thing.
We kindly ask for reconsideration of our matter, not only for who signed on this paper but also for every similar matter in this beloved land."
The full Drivetime show on RTE Radio 1 can be listened back to below:
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