Thread by @joefingalgreen

I’ll be joining my colleague @rodericogorman to speak in the Dáil shortly on Direct Provision and the welcome changes set out recently in the White Paper on Ending Direct Provision.

Statements start at 10am

With White Paper we published in Feb, our intention is to create a new system of support for International Protection applicants that’s fundamentally different from current model. A system that meets needs of applicants & enables them to contribute positively to Irish life.

The new system will be different from the current Direct Provision system as the profit motive will be replaced with an approach that will be centred on the primacy of nurturing the humanity and rights of people.

As Minister for Community Development and Charities I am really delighted that there is a key role envisaged for the Community and Voluntary sector in how we as a State and a society will treat international protection applicants.

This key role of putting the humanity and rights of people at the core of our approach is best done by having the community and voluntary sector centrally involved. Simply because the people in the community and voluntary sector do this best.

Community integration is at the heart of the new model. Instead of living separately from communities, in large congregated settings, often in isolated locations, applicants will live in houses and apartments in towns and cities around the country.

Integration from day one is a key principle of the new policy. The approach used by the Irish Refugee Protection Programme to co-ordinate refugee integration under the leadership of Local Authorities will be our guide.

Such an approach ensures that service providers can plan for the arrival and needs of applicants & families mobilise C&V integration supports. NGOs will be contracted to provide integration workers to act as integration caseworkers for applicants with lower support needs

The new policy emphasises the importance of community engagement, and includes a commitment to provide funding to support specific community integration initiatives.

My Department @DeptRCD and @rodericogorman’s Department will collaborate to ensure that local programmes are aligned with broader community policy goals and delivered to a consistent standard of quality.

Children & Young People’s Services Committees also have key part to play to ensure there is a specific focus on needs of children, young people & families in International Protection accomm. Will also proactively support wider community engagement & child & youth participation.

I have spent much of my life sitting down with people new to the country and explaining to them their rights and entitlements and helping them to navigate systems they have got lost in and been struggling with for months or years.

So I am very glad to say that at every stage of International Protection process, applicants will have a right to information describing services & supports they can receive. Under the new model, comprehensive information will be proactively supplied to applicants at key stages

The new model anticipates that NGOs will be centrally involved in delivery of services to applicants & in promoting their integration into local communities. A new specific integration fund will be established to enable NGOs develop integration projects & programmes

Changes also re access to labour mkt. Applicants can apply for access 6 months after registering application, if they haven’t received 1st instance decision in this time. Also applicants are now granted labour market access for 12 mths & can be renewed. Double length of previous.

It is now proposed that the international student charge for PLC courses (currently at €3,600) be waived for protection applicants who have established labour market access, a change that will facilitate wider access to these courses.

Due to increased budget allocations I secured in Budget2021 by end of this year every county in Ireland will have its own fully fledged Volunteer Centre. With this national network, the new national volunteering policy & ongoing growth & development of volunteer policy & supports

Volunteerism offers positive environments for migrants to mix with Irish people and broaden their understanding of their lives but it also offers new communities accessible, easy and supported introductory pathways into Irish society.

@voluntireland

.@pobal recently published a report on impact of #SICAP Programme on migrant integration. Asylum seekers are a key target group under SICAP & LDCs are doing invaluable work with asylum seekers and so will also play a key role going forward with this new approach.

Integration & inclusion are the cornerstones of new Service, which will create better outcomes for International Protection applicants, who come here seeking assistance & compassion, but also for local communities, who will host them and welcome them into Irish society.