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4.4.1 Asylum (Integration)

There are no integration procedures in place for asylum applicants while a decision on an application is pending. The Office for Promotion for Migrant Integration is responsible for the management of the resettlement programme of refugees admitted as part of the United Nations Resettlement Programme.

4.4.2 Migration (Integration)

The Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration is the Government office with responsibility for the facilitation of integration; it is based within the Department of Justice and Equality. The Office has a cross-Departmental mandate to develop, drive and co-ordinate integration policy across other Government Departments, agencies and services. The functions include the promotion of the integration of legal immigrants into Irish society, the establishment of new structures for this purpose, the management of the resettlement of refugees admitted as part of the United Nations Resettlement Programme and the administration of funding from national and EU sources to promote integration.117 _{There are currently no compulsory integration} measures for any category of migrant in Ireland.

Ireland adopts a policy of mainstream service provision in the integration area while recognising the need for targeted initiatives to meet specific short-term needs. Integration measures are targeted at all legal migrant groups. While overall responsibility for the promotion and co-ordination of integration measures for legally resident immigrants rests with the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration, in general, the actual delivery of integration services is the responsibility of mainstream Government Departments. The non-pay allocation for the Office in 2011 was €2.796 million. This covers non-pay administrative expenditure as well as programme expenditure. In addition, €1.5 million is allocated for expenditure from the European Refugee Fund and the European Integration Fund. There are 17 staff in the Office, of whom six are in the resettlement area.118

The Cross-Departmental Group on Migrant Integration, an inter-departmental committee comprising senior civil servants, was established by the Office of Promotion of Migrant Integration to assist the former Minister for Integration to drive forward the integration agenda in relevant Departments and agencies. The Committee is representative of the Departments and Offices with a significant role in integration. The Committee meets as required to review 117 _{http://www.integration.ie.}

118 _{Written Answer to Parliamentary Question by Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence Thursday 16 June,} 2011. http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/06/16/00134.asp.

activities in relation to integration and to resolve issues which arise. The last meeting of the Committee took place in January 2011.

The network of National Contact Points on Integration is a forum for the exchange of information and good practice at the EU level with the purpose of finding successful solutions for the integration of immigrants in all Member States and to ensure policy co-ordination and coherence at national level and with EU initiatives. Ireland is a member of the network of National Contact Points on Integration and a representative of the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration takes part in these meetings.

The Office of Promotion for Migrant Integration also established the Ministerial Council on Integration on a non-statutory basis in 2010. Its purpose was to provide a forum where migrants could speak directly to the Minister of State regarding their experiences of integration in Ireland, and thereby promote better-informed policy by making and identifying any issues and bringing them to attention. Applications were sought from migrants who have been legally resident in Ireland for at least two years; applications from international protection applicants were not eligible. Almost 500 applications for membership of the Council were received, representing 76 nationalities.119 _The Council is organised in regional formation and an inaugural meeting of each regional forum was held in 2010. The future of the Council is currently under consideration.

There are several non-governmental organisations in Ireland involved in the integration of migrants. The Integration Centre is an organisation which is committed to the integration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland, and among its activities, publishes an Annual integration Monitor in conjunction with the ESRI. The Immigrant Council Ireland, Crosscare Migrant Project, Migrant Rights Council Ireland, Nasc and the Irish Refugee Council, along with several other organisations play a key role in facilitating the integration of migrants in Ireland.

In September 2010 the Department of Education and Skills launched a national

Intercultural Education Strategy 2010-15, which aims to assist in ensuring that

‘inclusion and integration within an intercultural learning environment becomes the norm’.120 _{In autumn 2011, Dublin City Council’s Office for Integration (OFI)} lead a campaign focused on integration. The ‘One City One People Campaign’ was aimed at the city’s immigrant population to promote inclusion, integration and to combat racism and discrimination.121

119 _{Office of the Minister for Integration (18 January 2011). ‘Minister White chairs meeting of Inter-Departmental} Group on Integration’. Press Release. Available at www.integration.ie.

120 _{http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=10856&ecategory=51881&language=EN.} 121 _{http://www.dublin.ie/arts-culture/one-city-one-people.htm.}

In January 2012 Crosscare Migrant Project launched a new migrant integration scheme, with the aim of encouraging migrant participation in and understanding of politics in Ireland. The ‘Opening Power to Diversity’ scheme will place migrants with T.D.s or Senators for two days a week over a six-month period. The migrant participants will shadow the work of the politician and will also contribute to the work of his/her office both at a parliamentary and constituency level. It is envisaged that the migrant participants will communicate to their communities and the wider immigrant community what the everyday experience of politics is like.