Two-tier Ireland?

What do you think about the warm welcome we are giving to Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country?

More than 10,000 people have arrived in Ireland so far and Irish people have shown extraordinary generosity in opening up their homes to them.

On Tuesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that as many as 40,000 Ukrainians could arrive in Ireland by the end of April and as many as 200,000 ultimately.

He told media: “It could easily be 30-40,000, maybe more than that, and in the context of our population that would be nearly a 1% increase in our population in a matter of a few weeks.”

He said this will put pressure on services including education and housing and that the Government plans on providing every Ukrainian with “own-door self-catering accommodation” in the long-term.

Speaking before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, which was discussing the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine on Tuesday, the Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross said that they have received an “astonishing” 21,000 pledges of accommodation.

Liam O’Dwyer also mentioned that "just under a thousand" pledges were received during the Syrian crisis.

There is no doubt that Ukrainian refugees have received a different welcome to other refugees who have come here, some escaping war, and gone into the Direct Provision system.

The founder of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland has criticised what he calls the “hypocrisy” of Ireland’s immigration system.

Speaking on Newstalk this week, Lucky Khambule expressed solidarity with Ukrainians while pointing out “that there are people stuck in emergency hotels and Direct Provision for months and months with no services at all provided to them,” he said.

“We welcome the response of the Government in terms of the emergency that is needed to take care of the refugees that are coming from Ukraine. We welcome the way they have expedited services so they can carry on with their lives here.

“But in the same vein, we believe that same urgency which the Government has proven it can be able to do, they have not done that for the past few months for other people that came into this country.”

He feels Ireland now has a two-tier system for asylum seekers. “I am not criticizing them for the way they are treating Ukrainians, but I am saying there is an underlying and clear way of differentiating some refugees from the others,” he said. Mr Khambule said people from Ukraine are automatically offered rights and services when they arrive in Ireland – while asylum seekers from other countries must wait months for their first hearing.

This is an extraordinary situation but these anomalies in the system are just not fair. An amnesty for all refugees in Ireland would be a first step.