ICI News Bulletin - Issue 24

Thursday, 31 July 2008

1. Upcoming ICI event:  The Challenges of Integration in Post Celtic Tiger Ireland, October 7
2. Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill Update
3. European Court of Justice finds Ireland in breach of spousal rights
4. Kenyan Ambassador visits the ICI
5. More than 1,430 users a week visit the ICI’s website

Upcoming ICI event:  The Challenges of Integration in Post Celtic Tiger Ireland, October 7
The ICI will host an event entitled “The Challenges of Integration in Post Celtic Tiger Ireland” at the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin 2, on Tuesday, October 7.

Among the speakers will be Mr Nickey Brennan, President of the GAA, Dr Lawrence Lee, ICI Board Member and businessman, Mr Danny McCoy, Director of Policy at IBEC, Mr Jim Power, Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist at Friends First and Professor Rita Suessmuth, President of the German Parliament.

The event will be held in the morning and will be followed by a light lunch.  Invitations and more information will be sent closer to the day.  For further information, please contact Ruth Evans – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill update
The Oireachtas Committee for Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights met last week to debate the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.

Issues debated included:

• The Committee has agreed that an immigration officer must be satisfied that a foreign national is unlawfully present in the State before the question of removal of that person is considered. Deputy Barry Andrews noted that this is the proper test that an immigration officer should be required to apply rather than the lesser standard implied by the expression, “it appears to an immigration officer”.

• Deputy Andrews also noted that the issue of unaccompanied minors going missing from HSE was a matter of “considerable concern”. He referred to a recent article by ICI Founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy on the issue. He said that serious and specific protocols are being developed between An Garda Síochána and the HSE in respect of separated children.

• Deputy Naughten highlighted the difficulty for Committee members in debating the Bill when so much of the proposed legislation relies on regulations and administrative agreements. He noted that the Bill refers 116 times to regulations and 151 times to orders, all of which will be introduced through secondary legislation in the absence of adequate scrutiny by the Oireachtas.

• In response, Deputy Andrews pledged that the Minister will publish major regulations and allow for a significant consultation period in order to ensure the concerns expressed by the Deputy Naughten are allayed. He said that a “political commitment has been made and that is as strongly as I can state it”.

The Committee will meet again in September to resume the debate on the Bill.

European Court of Justice finds Ireland in breach of spousal rights
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld the rights of EU citizens and their non-EU spouses who wish to live together in Ireland and found the State in breach of EU law, in a ruling handed down in Luxembourg last Friday.

The ECJ held that Irish legislation was contrary to the EU Freedom of Movement Directive.

Irish legislation currently requires that an EU national and their spouse must have lived together in another EU Member State before coming to Ireland, a position the ICI has consistently argued was unlawful and causing enormous emotional and financial hardship for families.

About 1,500 people have sought information and support from the ICI on this issue alone over the past 18 months.

Kenyan Ambassador visits the ICI
Kenyan Ambassador, Her Excellency Catherine Muigai Mwangi, visited the ICI’s offices last Thursday, where she met staff and visited our drop-in centre.

Ms Muigai Mwangi discussed the opportunity for the ICI to build stronger links with Kenyans living in Ireland and listened to informal presentations about the ICI’s work.

More than 1,430 users a week visit the ICI’s website
The ICI’s website (www.immigrantcouncil.ie) was visited by 1,437 ‘unique visitors’ a week, on average, in July.

Unique visitors are the number of first-time and returning visitors to the site.

The five most popular items downloaded from our website are all on our Information for Migrants page and are:

• the “Working in Ireland” pdf 
• the English language version of the factsheet, “Rights to Long Term Residency and Citizenship in Ireland”
• our Information Update for Citizens Information Centres
• the “Undocumented Migrants” pdf
• the “Visitors Visas” pdf.