THE WAY WE ARRIVED

DR JOHN LANNON CEO, Doras

When I think of Africa, I usually think about “The Way We Arrived”. It was 2003 and my family and I left Ireland to live in South Africa. It was a journey of choice, motivated mostly by a desire to experience a different part of the world.

I then contrast that with the journeys of people who have to undergo abuse and violence at the hands of smugglers and other criminal networks just to get into Europe. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, they then experience more violence - pushbacks by state authorities at European borders – even though there is a prohibition on collective expulsions under European and international law.

For people seeking international protection in Europe from Africa there are few enough legal pathways available to them. This is in stark contrast to the treatment of people from Ukraine right across Europe, including Ireland. Our response to the war there was the right one, but we should extend the same hand of welcome to people fleeing persecution and war in other parts of the world.

I can’t speak about what it’s like to be a migrant in Ireland. But I know we’ve still got a long way to go before we afford everyone the same dignity and respect. We’re getting better, but there’s still a lot of work for us to do. We need to see government leading the way. Our Migrant Integration Strategy is 2 years out of date. We can’t provide interpreters for basic visits to hospital for people who don’t speak English. And we’re still waiting for a new National Action Plan Against Racism.

But on a positive note, people can now be proudly Irish and proudly African in Ireland. At the same time. In the 2016 Census, just short of 40,000 people identified as Black or Black Irish with an African background. And there are many more who also identified as Black of course. Identity is important for all of us. Even if we don’t all define our identity in the same way.

I read an African academic recently who was writing about African identity being premised on a range of historical, linguistic, cultural and psychological factors. And he referred to Africa’s “rich moral heritage of dignity, discipline, diligence, faithfulness, honesty and sound integrity” and how that was eroded by colonialism. Europe certainly has a lot to answer for when it comes to the damage caused to Africa. So, the least we should do is welcome people from Africa who want to come to Europe now. After all, we spent decades trying to convince ourselves we were better than Africa.

People make different journeys to Ireland from Africa of course. I know people who came to train as doctors. We have volunteers at Doras who are studying law, peace & development studies, and public health. But for anyone arriving here from Africa there are integration challenges. MIPEX is a tool that measures policies to integrate migrants, and it focuses on eight key areas: education, labour market, family reunion, political participation, permanent residence, access to nationality, anti-discrimination, and health. Ireland falls on three of these in particular: labour market access, family reunification, and permanent residency.

Ireland offers much less support than any other EU country to secure equal opportunities on the labour market. The MIPEX report found that non-EU citizens with the right to work do not enjoy equal access to all types of jobs, education, training, or social protection in Ireland. And it said newcomers also lack sufficient support to get their foreign qualifications recognised or gain new professional and language skills.

Our work at Doras brings us into contact with lots of people who are from Africa. Many, but not all, would have come through the International Protection route. And on foot of that we did a report in 2020 that looked at access to decent work and employment for protection applicants. In it we reported that the barriers to employment and decent work include a lack of networks and knowledge of how to navigate the system; discrimination; social or economic disadvantage; difficulties with access to childcare; limited recognition of qualifications and experience; lack of references; work permit restrictions; other administrative barriers (like bank accounts and driving licenses); and language. These are all compounded by emotional factors connected to the experience of seeking asylum.

Employer attitudes and awareness was an area of particular concern. We found that improvements are needed for a systematic approach to equality and human rights, and because of that we went on to do more work with IHREC on this.

That leads us on to the topic of racism. In 2020 the Irish Network Against Racism reported that 700 racist incidents were recorded nationally on iReport.ie. And we know that there is underreporting of racism in Ireland. We’ve got to take that head on together – it’s great to have strong African voices as part of the Limerick United Against Racism campaign, but we need to work on it together. Racism involves making generalisations or perpetuating stereotypes about people who are a diverse background. These stereotypes often view other people as inferior and are used to justify the exclusion of people from opportunities, resources, and power. It’s shameful that people of African origin are ever treated in this way here in Ireland.

I’ll end with the message underpinning a Limerick United Against Racism campaign that was launched on 16th May by the Mayor of Limerick Daniel Butler. The campaign is an initiative of the Limerick Integration Working group and the focus is on learning and talking about racism. There is a community mural for the campaign on Michael St, that spells out the message; it says ‘Diversity = Strength’. It’s a truth we need to always remember.