Since I’m on the subject of Europe (see my previous post about Malta, here), I thought I better get this older news story from Ireland posted before it’s way too old.
Some Leftwing activist groups have published a report bemoaning life in Ireland for Somali refugees. Here is how the article in the Irish Times begins:
LIFE FOR asylum seekers living in direct provision centres in Ireland has come to mirror that found in refugee camps in the developing world, a new report on the experience of Somali refugees claims.
A lack of support when people leave the centres and move into Irish society also makes integration difficult and exposes individuals to high unemployment and troublesome resettlement, it says.
‘From Catastrophe to Marginalisation: the Experiences of Somali Refugees in Ireland’ concludes the difficulties faced by Somali refugees are “emblematic of the limits of Ireland’s integration policies”.
“Fleeing catastrophic war conditions and arriving in Europe, often without linguistic or educational skills, Somali refugees experience high unemployment rates, difficult educational trajectories and troublesome resettlement.
“Race and religious discrimination, coupled with isolation due to the difficulties in securing family reunification, compound their less than smooth resettlement,” says the report, which was compiled by the Trinity Immigration Initiative and Horn of Africa People’s Aid, a refugee advocate organisation.
Some Somalis are doing just fine the report admits, but the ‘hostels’ come in for the most complaints.
It estimates there are up to 3,000 Somalis living in Ireland, many of whom are refugees. Figures from the Reception and Integration Agency show 282 Somali asylum seekers were living in direct-provision hostels in July.
Wahhhh! It’s cold and the food is lousy!
Now check out this next sob story in the article. This woman escaped persecution (she says) in Somalia where she had been raped, bought her way out of Africa with the help of someone in the US, ended up in Ireland and complains about the cold and the food! (This is Ireland!) And, by the way, how is she producing more children while living in a hostel with no husband? The article says she was pregnant when she arrived, but says nothing about other children at that time. Did she have triplets?
Safia Sharif, from Somalia, applied for asylum here in January 2005. She has been refused refugee status and is living in Mosney while she awaits a final decision by the Department of Justice on whether she can stay in the country or will be deported.
“I am from Afgooye, a town about 25km west of Mogadishu. I fled my country when I was taken hostage by a militia, who wanted to know the whereabouts of my husband. I was persecuted, harassed and raped by the militia over a four-month period. When my family paid a ransom to the militia I was released, and an aunt living in the US arranged with an agent [trafficker] to get me out of Somalia. The agent got me a Dutch passport and I travelled from Somalia to Dubai and onto England, and finally to Rosslare. When I arrived [there] I was very sick and weak from malnutrition. I spent four days in hospital.
“I applied for asylum and was sent to a direct-provision hostel in Kilmacud [Dublin] for three weeks before I was moved on to the Quiet Man hostel in Cong, Co Mayo. This was a tiny village and there were no other Somalis there, and I began to feel isolated and depressed. As a women who is a victim of female genital mutilation, the doctor who was in that place was not very familiar with my problem. This was an issue because I was pregnant.
“After I gave birth I was moved to a hostel in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, which has to be one of the worst. It was winter and the hostel was cold and the food was bad.
“Then I was moved to Mosney, which is better and made me feel like a human being again. But after almost six years waiting for a decision on my case I am feeling very depressed. I risked my life coming to Europe but I can’t stand it any more. If the Government can’t accept me then send me to another country. It’s a big crime to leave human beings in direct provision for this length of time. I have three children and I’m exhausted. I don’t want to end up in a psychiatric hospital.”
If she’s been kept in a hostel for 6 years there must be more to this case then we know. Maybe intelligence agencies are trying to find out who in the US helped her hire traffickers. Hey, maybe Allahsoldier knows!
Use our search function for ‘Ireland’ to learn more about ‘troubles’ Ireland will have with multiculturalism as their immigrant population grows. If they thought the Catholic-Protestant conflicts were awful, they have some real trouble coming with immigrants who won’t assimilate.
Update: A reader his kindly sent us the Irish ‘direct provision’ policy, here. For someone who has supposedly been raped, tortured and tormented, sure looks good to me!