1528 February 2014 Metro ireann 3 Metro ireann 114 June 2012 8

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. d e v r e s e s r
y t r e p o r p e h t e r a s k r a m r e h
am sign yGr he Mone
ou see e y wher y nd an
Apologising for
discrimination
OPINION
I
magine a public body
agreeing to pay out-of-
court damages to an insti-
tution committed to pro-
moting, say, the place of
whiteness and Catholicism
in Irish society, because said
public body had accused said
institution of racism and dis-
crimination in refuting the
rights of migrants or ethnic
minorities to marry people of
their own community, in the
name of the integrity of mar-
riage and religion in society.
I imagine the members of
such institution would claim
that they are definitely not
racist yet confirm they are
opposed to African migrants
coming into Ireland and mar-
rying their own kind. In fact,
their colour, culture and cus-
toms are totally opposed to
Irish culture. And in particu-
lar, the fact that they are not
white, and that most are not
Catholic, threatens Irish
Catholicism and Irish white-
ness.
I base this absurd imaginary
hypothetical scenario on the
recent homophobia debate,
which arose after RT agreed
to pay out more than 80,000
to a number of individuals,
including members of the Iona
Institute, following an inter-
view on the Saturday Night
Show with drag performer
Rory ONeill, otherwise
known as Panti Bliss, who
called out the Iona Institute
for perceived homophobia.
Iona, which describes itself
as committed to the place of
marriage and religion in socie-
ty, and to publicly funded
denominational schools, is
opposed to gay marriage.
With that in mind, its incredi-
ble to me that Iona Institute
member and Irish Times
columnist Breda OBrien
insists that she is opposed to
homophobia though she also
claims shes opposed to what
she calls liberal intolerance.
Gay equality and gay mar-
riage are sore issues in a soci-
ety that, until quite recently,
had obeyed what sociologist
Tom Inglis calls the Catholic
Churchs moral monopoly.
While homosexuality was
decriminalised in 1993, there
is no gay marriage, which 84
per cent of Irish people sup-
port but many oppose in the
name of the integrity of Irish
marriage and the place of
religion in society.
This is a highly emotional
debate: about 10 per cent of
the population are gay and
many of them want marriage
rights. Last week a crowd of
some 2,000 people attended a
rally hosted by LGBT Noise
to protest the decision by RT
to remove parts of the
Saturday Night Show inter-
view with Rory ONeill/Panti
Bliss, and to issue an apology
with its payouts.
Like many straight people
in Ireland, I abhor homopho-
bia and fully support LGBT
demands and protests.
However, the debate raises
some other questions. Firstly,
as migrants and foreign-born
also make up around 10 per
cent of the Irish population,
where is the support for their
protests against racism and
against deportation?
Secondly, as racism inter-
sects with other forms of dis-
crimination, why is it accept-
able for some minorities,
including some African peo-
ple, to express homophobic
opinions?
At Metro ireann's
International Leadership
Award event recently, the gov-
ernor of Nigerias Delta State
gave a speech, after receiving
an award, in which he com-
pared homosexuality with
paedophilia; surely a homo-
phobic stance. The Anti-
Racism Network Ireland
protested, since many
migrants escape their coun-
tries of origin because of
being persecuted due to their
sexual orientation and
because ARN Ireland is well
aware of the intersection of
racism and homophobia.
Thirdly, while I welcome
the call by many politicians,
in the wake of whats being
called Pantigate, for a seri-
ous and open debate on homo-
phobia, why does it seem
equally impossible to hold a
mature and open debate on
racism and on deportation in
Ireland?
Such a debate would
acknowledge the rise of
everyday racism, and the role
of the state in racialising
whole sections of the popula-
tion and in fomenting popular
racism, and would also fore-
ground the intersection of
racism, sexism and homopho-
bia.
Ronit Lentin is associate pro-
fessor of Sociology at Trinity
College Dublin. Her column
appears fortnightly in Metro
ireann
Ronit
Lentin
THE EUROPEAN Migration
Network (EMN) released its
report this month on Irish recep-
tion facilities for asylum seekers,
and it doesnt make for pleasant
reading.
Funded by the EU to provide
current information on European
migration and asylum, the
EMNs report considers condi-
tions in Irelands direct provi-
sion centres, as well as State
practices in addressing pressures
on the system, the flow of appli-
cants and relative costs.
Under the direct provision sys-
tem, asylum seekers are given
room and board, and receive a
weekly allowance of 19.10 per
adult and 9.60 per child, a rate
that has gone unchanged since
2000.
Asylum applicants are not
entitled to receive social welfare
support, such as medical cards,
nor or they permitted to take
employment.
Of the 30 states within the
European Economic Area,
Ireland is one of only two that
refuses asylum seekers the right
to work during their application
process. Justice Minister Alan
Shatter has claimed in the past
that changing this policy would
almost certainly have a pro-
foundly negative impact on
application numbers.
Ireland has also chosen not to
adopt either the EU or European
Parliaments directives that set
minimum requirements regard-
ing the reception of asylum seek-
ers.
The result is a reception sys-
tem thats inconsistently moni-
tored, and one that the EMN
report says has been described
as resulting in social exclusion
and poverty, particularly in the
case of children.
Its also one where many peo-
ple are held for extended periods.
As of 2012, 59 per cent of resi-
dents had been in the direct pro-
vision system for over three
years, with some awaiting word
on their applications for much
longer.
Conditions are often cramped,
with each individual only legally
entitled to a personal space of just
eight feet by five feet. And self-
catering is rare: most residents
are provided meals, themselves
often a point of criticism, and are
not allowed to cook for them-
selves.
Its worth noting on the above
that Minister Shatter has
described asylum seekers in
direct provision as not in the
care of the State, rather that the
State has a duty of care to such
applicants. Moreover, there is
apparently no necessity to
change either the direct provision
policy itself or its administrative
and legal basis, as the report
quotes him.
On the face of it, the findings
of the EMN would beg to differ.
Report suggests duty of care neglected in asylum system
By Dalton Cox