FW: TD'S AFRAID TO SUPPORT MIGRANT RIGHTS

        

Press Release 09/12/11          Immediate Release

TD'S AFRAID TO SUPPORT MIGRANT RIGHTS

Survey Shows TDs Recognise Potential of Immigrants But Fear Constituency Reaction To Any Open Support.

In a Millward Brown Lansdowne survey commissioned by The One Foundation, it was found that just 4% of TDs felt that speaking up for migrants would have a positive effect on their electoral support within their constituency – over one in three (36%) felt speaking up for migrants could have a negative effect.

This is just one of the surprising and results which show conflicting attitudes to come in Millward Brown Lansdowne's survey of TDs.

Nearly half of all TDs (74) responded to this survey to gauge their opinions, attitudes and interactions with immigrants.

The Integration Centre who helped design the survey believes that the results show the need for an urgent national integration strategy to be drawn up by the Government.

The results demonstrate levels of inconsistency, and indeed fear, from policy makers to publicly support migrant's rights even though they recognise the benefits positive action would have, such as the key role that migrants can play in Ireland's economic recovery.
The results revealed:

On Politics
•    36% of TDs answering felt that speaking in favour of migrants would have a negative effect on their constituency support, only a tiny minority (4%) felt it would be electorally beneficial.
•    Almost two thirds encountered racist sentiments while canvassing in General Election 2011.
•    Only one in five made specific attempts to target votes from naturalised Irish in GE 2011.
•    Nearly one third (31%) believe that immigration will become a contentious issue in future elections.

On Economy
•    Nearly three quarters (73%) think that the potential trade links that Immigrants have with their home countries are underutilised.  
•    Almost three quarters agree (72%)that Immigrants have an important role to play in the recovery for our economy
•    Nearly two thirds (62%) think that immigrants skills are underutilised in Ireland

CEO of The Integration Centre Killian Forde said "the results show that politicians believe that immigrants are a potential resource to aid in Ireland's recovery; that their skills sets are not being utilised; and they receive inadequate support".

But he added "despite most TDs encountering racism while canvassing in the most recent general election only a minority have spoken out in favour of immigrants and more than a third believe their constituents would punish them at the polls for doing so"

Mr Forde called for the government to "prioritise integration as a matter of urgency in the country, as over half of TD's feel central government needs to take more of a lead in rolling out integration strategies."

He finished saying "we need to have a junior Minister with specific responsibility for this and a long term Government strategy drawn up. Our recently published Roadmap to Integration was well received by TDs of all parties, it offers a blueprint for successful integration, what is now required is the will to implement some of those ideas."

ENDS

Notes to the Editor
The Roadmap to Integration 2011
The Roadmap calls for changes in policy such as curriculum development, creation of orientation courses, and legislation to tackle racist crime to promote the social inclusion and integration of immigrants in Ireland.

It identifies some of the key blockages in Ireland in terms of integration policy and practice. It provides almost 80 suggested solutions and indicates whether those responsible for the policy are making progress in addressing the issue.

Amongst the important asks are:
•    The creation of an orientation course for immigrants to tackle the lack of information on cultural, political, and civic life in Ireland as well as public services.   
•    The Introduction of Intercultural Studies as a subject in Secondary School which would alleviate racism and discrimination in schools and later life.
•    Reform of criteria for school admission which would lead to more inclusive policies and prevent clustering in specific schools.
•    The introduction of legislation o n racist crime. There is no agreed definition o f racist crime and racism is not legally an aggravating factor in crime, this coupled with the closure of the NCCRI means that the monitoring and reporting of racist crime is completely un-catered for.
•    Electoral Reform to include at minimum a partial 'list system' due to the underrepresentation of immigrants in legislative bodies.
•    Reform the work visa system so that employees can change employers within sectoral bands without having to wait for one year.

 About the Millward Brown Lansdowne survey
The results depict the findings of a survey of members of the Dáil, conducted between 22nd June and the 12th of July 2011. The purpose of the survey was to ascertain TDs' opinions', attitudes and interactions with immigration and Immigrants.

 Attempts were made to contact all 165 TDs, with 74 eventually participating in the survey, giving a success rate of 45%. All TDs were contacted by telephone, and were only broadly made aware of the issues to be discussed prior to participating in the survey.

Absolute confidentiality was assured in all cases, and unless specifically asked, the One Foundation was not mentioned as commissioning this survey.

 Reasons given for not participating included refusals on principal (based on not doing surveys in general as opposed to the specific subject matter of this survey), refusals based on being too busy to participate, and in some cases, inability to directly contact the individual in question.

Contact:

Helena Clarke on 01 645 3092 / 087-961 0897; 1st and 2nd Floors, 18 Dame Street Dublin 2, helena.clarke@integrationcentre.ie, www.integrationcentre.ie
Killian Forde, CEO of The Integration is available for interview on 086-3870543.

 

The Integration Centre is committed to the integration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland. The Centre specialises in planning, monitoring and advocacy at city, local, national and international levels, and it also provides regionalized information, advice and training services. Evidence-based research influences positive change in legislation, policy and practice. We have more than 250 affiliated organisations as part of our network.