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Close Encounters

7 March 2007

Interviews: Colin Murphy

Detention Centres
It was the era of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and I had some particular political problems. In 2000 I asked for asylum in Holland. For several years, I was in different asylum centres. In September 2005, they brought me to the Schipol centre because they wanted to deport me. I was about 43 days in Schipol. I sometimes thought I was in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. It was very strict, a very brutal regime. One time, I went to the security to ask for toilet paper – they had some but they refused me.

On 27 October 2005, I was in my cell watching television. I heard some strange noises. People were screaming: ‘Fire!’ After some minutes I saw smoke in my room. I couldn’t breathe clearly. I began to scream. A security guard came and said to me there was nothing wrong. I took a handkerchief over my mouth and went to the shower. Fifteen minutes later, somebody else opened the door. I ran outside, only in my underwear. I was very scared and I was crying. Some of my friends didn’t come out of the block. Eleven people were killed. When I think about them, I feel guilty that I couldn’t do anything for them.

After the fire, they sent me to a centre for asylum seekers. I thought, if Europe is like this then my country is better than Europe. [Recently] they gave me ‘humanitarian’ status, but my refugee case is still going on.

Babak

The Minister for Justice is considering detention centres for some asylum seekers. He has cited their successful use in the Netherlands. In October 2005, a fire at the Dutch Schipol centre killed 11 detainees. After an investigation revealed neglect of health and safety regulations, the justice and planning ministers resigned.

Family Reunification

I’ve been here since 2000. I came here first, my mum came in after. My mum has refugee status. But they said there was no credibility in my story, and I was rejected. My mum applied for family reunification on behalf of us – myself and my brother and sister – in 2003. We had to pay €750 to a lawyer to apply for family reunification. And then we waited, forever.

It’s like they’re torturing me. There’s nothing to do. If you have so much free time in your life, it drives you crazy. It’s as if you’re not wanted in society. You don’t know what to do for people to accept you. You can’t get along with Irish people, you can’t afford to do the things they do.

You’re coming from a place where there was war. You come here and you’ve nothing to do. So what do you think about? You think about all the violent things you’ve seen.

I did my Leaving Cert in 2002, then last year I repeated. I got 545 points. I’m doing A Levels this year. I want to do medicine or pharmacy. But I can’t get into college. They told me I have to have status in my own right to get grants. But I met my mum here and we were united, that’s what matters. They can’t send me home when my mother’s here.

Zainab Disu

The proposed Immigration Bill contains a new legal measure: ‘policy statements’. These will allow the Minister for Justice to devise policy on aspects of immigration and asylum law without legislation. The Minister has said family reunification may be the subject of such policy statement; it is not specifically provided for in the Bill.

Ministerial Discretion

I came here in 2003, aged 17. I applied for asylum, was rejected and applied for Leave to Remain. Three or four months later, I got a deportation order.

I had tried my best – I had joined sports clubs, I was given an award by the Lord Mayor of Dublin. I was shocked. Where I come from, the Niger Delta, there is still violence there, disturbance, kidnappings, the militants still fighting. I was more than scared.

But I pulled myself together, talked to different organisations, and they started writing and making phone calls to the Department of Justice and the Minister. They also talked to their politicians. Then wonderfully, I received a letter saying I’d been granted ‘leave to remain’ for one year. It seems the Minister doesn’t make the [original] decisions himself, but has senior officials to do it. But this time he had asked to see the full file.

It’s given me some kind of independence, given me the freedom to prove myself. I’m paying my rent, paying for my education, and I’ve a good job in the financial sector.

I don’t want to use my name or photo here. I understand Ireland is a democracy, people are free to express themselves, but I still think that, as an immigrant, you have to be careful what you say. The Government just generalises Nigerians together, hey are all ‘bogus’. If I could get a deportation letter, given all that I’d done, that just proves it.

Samuel Anyadike (not real name)

The Minister for Justice has extensive scope for the exercise of discretion, particularly when awarding Leave to Remain. Under the proposed legislation, applications for Leave to Remain will be considered alongside asylum applications by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. However, the Bill retains the scope for ministerial discretion.

Documents on Demand

I'm Italian, from outside Rome. I've been here in Ireland for ten years. On the first of February, I was on my way to go to the Shell to Sea protest on Stephen’s Green in Dublin when a cop stopped me and looked for ID. It was the usual story. I’ve been stopped three or four times in the past. He asked me some questions, the usual stuff. I gave him my Italian identity card. I carry it with me all the time, just in case. About a year ago, I was stopped on Grafton Street in the middle of the afternoon. I was just walking around. It was two gardaí. They asked me for ID, and asked me questions. ‘Where are you from?’ ‘What are you doing here?’ – the same questions always. Just a check up. It’s a pain in the arse. They’ve stopped me three or four times all together. It’s ridiculous. People are passing by, and see me being stopped - maybe they think I’m doing something wrong, I’m some gangster or something. You can’t just stop people because of their skin colour. It’s not on to stop people at random like that. That’s pure fascism. You should be free to walk wherever you want.

Sergio Magliocco

Under the proposed Bill, gardaí will be empowered to stop any immigrant and demand the production of identification. This has led to fears that immigrants will be harrassed. In addition, there are concerns that gardaí will target people not required to carry ID, but who fit preconceptions of what immigrants ‘should’ look like.

Marriage Restrictions

I was 17 when I came to Ireland and applied for asylum. When I was refused I applied for leave to remain. In the meantime, I went to college, and I met my wife there.

What I learned, growing up, was that if you really like someone and want to be with them, you should get married. If you like somebody, why waste time?

It’s not like here where you have to date for five years, then get engaged for ten!

After we got married, I applied for residency. It took me 13 months to get it. I have to renew my residency every year, and I have to bring in my wife to prove we’re still married.

If I go down to the Department of Justice or the Garda immigration Bureau, I get treated like shit, but I’m used to it.

My wife gets really angry. She says they don’t really treat you like a person. Often, when we’re together, people ignore me and talk straight to her. Before I met her, I didn’t think I could get married to an Irish girl – I saw the kind of life Irish ladies live, getting drunk like fish. But when I met her, I realised that was totally wrong.

The only difference between us is just the skin colour. There are rough edges, but marriage is all about working it out.

Ade Kinbi (not real name)

The Minister for Justice has said asylum seekers and other migrants with short-stay permits are availing of ‘convenience marriages’. He has proposed that all such people will have to notify him of their intention to marry, and he will have power to prohibit such marriages, even when one party is Irish.

Subsidiary Protection

My parents support the opposition MDC party in Zimbabwe. In early 2002, our house in Harare was attacked by Zanu PF activists. I came to Ireland in March 2002. My brother was born in the UK, so he has a British passport, and lives there now.

My mother has gone to join him there. I applied for asylum here, and was refused. At the time I was 16 – I got some names and dates wrong and they decided I wasn’t credible. That’s was three years ago. I applied for humanitarian ‘leave to remain’, but they haven’t decided yet. I can’t join my brother and mother in England, because you’re not allowed apply for asylum in two EU countries. I haven’t been able to visit them because I’m not allowed to leave the country. I could be deported from Ireland, and then I’d never be allowed back into the EU.

I’m a big music lover and I’m working on being a musician, but it’s difficult because I can’t get proper work. If I stay here, I think I have a lot to offer this country and this country has a lot to offer me. People here are coming to accept that there are foreigners in the country.

I’ve been waiting five years now. I did my Leaving Cert in 2004, then I did a sound engineering course. But I can’t work. I’ve built up all these contacts, and if I had at least some money coming in, there’s lots of opportunities here for me.

Thomas Moyo (not real name)

Many asylum seekers do not meet strict grounds for asylum, but have reasonable fears for their welfare if deported. Many countries give them subsidiary protection status, also known as humanitarian Leave to Remain. In Britain, more are granted subsidiary protection than asylum. In Ireland, the numbers are tiny, and it can take years.