Opening Address by Minister Curran at the AGM of the Jesuit Refugee

Service (JRS) Europe

Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare

Friday 30th October 2009

I am very pleased to be here this afternoon and it is an honour to have

been asked to open this AGM. I would like to particularly thank the

National Director of JRS Ireland, Eugene Quinn, for his kind invitation

to address you.

I understand that the title of your discussions over the two days is '

Integration: A Challenge in Principle, in Policy and in Practice' . This

is a theme that is very relevant, timely and important for this country.

I have been asked to talk to you today about the recent Irish experience

of migration and integration and the Irish Government's response. At the

outset, I want to say that it is not just a Governmental response which

is required but a societal response. I hope my reasons for stressing

this will become clear.

One of the most important changes driving integration is the so called

"new demographics". The composition of Ireland's population has

dramatically changed over the past decade and we have moved from a

comparatively monocultural society to one which reflects an enormous

variety of cultural and ethnic groups.

It is important to keep in mind that our newcomers do not represent a

homogeneous group and have varied backgrounds and reasons for coming to

Ireland. We have experienced inflows of migrants through the asylum

process, associated family reunification, students and migrant workers

from within the EU and from outside the EU.

The level of immigration increased dramatically when migrants began

arriving here in very large numbers following the enlargement of the

European Union in 2004. As you will be aware, Ireland, the UK and Sweden

were the only Member States to immediately open their job markets to the

ten new Member States.

Over a four year period from 2002 to 2006, we went from a position where

the percentage of Ireland’s population who were immigrants increased

from 5.7% to 10%. The Census reported a figure of 420,000 migrants

living here in 2006 but we know that this figure is now over 550,000.

We now have people from over 188 different countries living here with a

wide range of cultural identities and religious beliefs.

For this small country, the change process has been dramatic both in

terms of the scale and speed of transformation. In 2008, the OECD

published their Economic Survey of Ireland and found that "Around 15% of

people living in Ireland were born outside the country. The proportion

of foreign-born has doubled in the space of a decade, which by OECD

standards is an extremely rapid change in the population mix. Ireland

has now surpassed the United States, the United Kingdom and France,

three countries with much longer immigration histories".

There is no doubt that we are now a diverse society and integration will

remain a key task of Irish society. This will be the case even though

immigration has now declined due to the economic recession, and indeed,

for the first time since 1995, net outward migration has once again

become a reality.

Irish society has demonstrated a very open approach to migration. We

have not seen the kind of serious incidents which have occurred in other

countries. One simple measurement is the number of racially motivated

incidents and, despite the large number of migrants coming here, the

number of such incidents was 63 in 2003, 228 in 2007 and 183 in 2008.

I note from your agenda that one of your workshops will explore how we

understand integration and the values and visions that should underpin

it and I think that is a very good starting point to your discussions.

There is no doubt that integration is a complex issue as it involves

many policy areas and impacts on different aspects of life. Integration

policy covers areas such as equality, education, health, housing,

immigration, community, policing, arts and sport to name but a few. As

identified in your AGM theme, it poses significant challenges and

requires adaptation in almost every sphere of public administration.

But what do we mean by the term 'integration'? Both at home and abroad,

there are many different definitions in use and the vocabulary around

integration is often confusing. It involves concepts such as

multiculturalism, interculturalism, assimilation, social cohesion,

social inclusion and anti discrimination.

The concept that we favour in Ireland is interculturalism and this seeks

to focus on how the different cultures speak to each other; listen to

each other; interact with each other; find ways to learn from each

other and enrich each other. In essence, it is a two-way process

involving both the newcomers and the host communities and this has been

Government policy since the late nineties with the publication of the

first integration report which was called "Integration -A Two Way

Process". Integration is also a process that involves both rights and

responsibilities.

While every country has different approaches, a lot of good work was

done at EU level in developing the European Common Basic Principles of

Integration which were published in 2005. These eleven principles cover

areas such as the importance of mainstreaming policies and measures,

intercultural dialogue, employment, knowledge of host society, education

and access to services. They have been a major influence in Ireland and

have helped inform the development of our own principles as contained in

the document 'Migration Nation -Statement on Integration Strategy and

Diversity Management' which was published by my Office in 2008.

The key principles which underpin Irish policy with regard to

Integration include a partnership approach between the Government and

non-governmental organisations; a strong link between Integration Policy

and wider state social inclusion measures; a mainstream approach to

service delivery to migrants and also a commitment to effective local

delivery mechanisms that align services to migrants with those for

indigenous communities.

I believe that the concept of mainstreaming is critical to success in

integration. Mainstreaming implies that the planning and delivery of

both services and policies for immigrants should be part of the normal

planning and delivery of services for all society, including immigrants.

However, there is a recognition that targeted services for some

immigrants will always be needed.

In line with our mainstream approach, the objectives of integration

policies are realised through strategies, initiatives and measures

within several policy areas and by many different Government Departments

and agencies. A lot of work has already been done in making services

more accessible, in planning and delivering services in a culturally

competent manner, in translating information, in providing

interpretation services and in rolling out diversity training for

front-line staff. This is an on-going need, of course, and will require

continuous review.

Important work continues to be done by organisations such as the

National Employment Rights Authority who work to ensure that the rights

of migrant workers are upheld and by the National Qualifications

Authority of Ireland to facilitate recognition of foreign

qualifications.

The Garda Síochána, our police force, have also implemented many

initiatives such as the establishment of the Garda Racial and

Intercultural Office, the appointment of approx. 400 ethnic liaison

officers and the active recruitment of people from minority communities.

They have also published a Diversity Strategy and Implementation Plan

this year.

Other developments include the setting up of my Office in 2007 to

develop, drive and co-ordinate integration policy and the establishment

of a cross-Departmental group to drive forward the integration agenda.

Another measure of note which was undertaken by Government was the

development of a National Action Plan Against Racism which promoted the

development of a number of effective and strategic programmes involving

both anti-racism and integration measures. The Plan was focussed on the

period 2005 to 2008, but my Office will continue to maintain the

Government commitment to address racism as a key aspect of integration,

diversity management and broader national social policy.

Funding has also been provided to develop intercultural strategies at

national and local levels and examples of these include the

comprehensive Intercultural Health Strategy that was published by the

HSE last year, the development of Anti-Racism and Diversity Plans or

Intercultural Plans by some of the Local Authorities and the development

of an Intercultural Education Strategy which I will talk about in more

detail shortly.

However, a key factor in successful integration must be the recognition

that integration cannot be directed by Government Ministers alone – in

order for it to be truly effective, it must be a ground-up approach and

take place at a local level. This is why my policies and funding

priorities are based around mobilising migrants to participate in the

cultural, sporting and political aspects of Irish society.

To facilitate this, my Office has provided funding to local authorities

around the country in order to initiate, support and encourage

integration activities in their areas. I have also provided funding to

national sporting bodies for the development of measures to encourage

greater participation of migrants in sporting activities through a range

of initiatives. As we know, sport can be a great way of bringing people

together and can promote a sense of community and participation which

can transcend nationality, religion or language.

Participation in the democratic process is also very important and

immigrants in Ireland enjoy favourable voting rights. Using funding

provided by my Office, some of the Local Authorities put in place

migrant voter initiatives to encourage migrants to register and vote in

the local elections which were held earlier this year.

However, it is clear that Government alone cannot provide enough funding

to cover all the initiatives and measures required. Everyone has a role

to play in integration and this includes civil society and the

philanthropic sector. The latter sector plays an important and vital

role in funding initiatives in Ireland and much good work has been done

by groups such as The Iris O' Brien Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies

and the One Foundation.

An excellent example of one such initiative is Fáilte Isteach, which is

funded by my Office and the Iris O’Brien Foundation. The Fáilte Isteach

project involves older people volunteering their time to teach

conversational English classes to new migrants who have come to Ireland

from all over the world. The student-centred approach adopted by the

programme provides basic language support in a practical, welcoming and

inclusive manner and I am pleased to say that there are now 15 centres

operating in Ireland with 177 volunteers who provide free English

language tuition to around 330 migrants students.

It is wonderful to be here today in the beautiful setting of Clongowes

Wood College where education has such an important focus. I would like

to take this opportunity to acknowledge the excellent work that the

Jesuit Refugee Service does on an ongoing basis to assist vulnerable

migrants in a range of different ways. I also know that the Jesuit

Refugee Service has produced some extremely useful resources for schools

which provide very practical information for educators.

There is now an extensive range of resources available in the area of

newcomers and education and I am pleased to mention that in September, I

launched 'AIM- Accessing Intercultural Materials', which brings these

together in an information portal that is available on the websites of

both my Office (www.integration.ie) and the Department of Education and

Science.

There can be no doubt that education is critical to long term

integration and, in particular, to our greatest hopes for success in the

longer term. I mentioned earlier that we are developing an

intercultural education strategy. This strategy will take into account

the findings from a number of research projects that are due for

completion this year including:

· the "Value for Money Review" of expenditure on supporting the

teaching of English and Irish as an additional language at primary and

post-primary level,

· an evaluation, by the Inspectorate in the Department of Education, of

the quality of teaching and learning of English as an Additional

Language in a number of primary and post-primary schools and finally

· the OECD’s "Thematic Review of Migrant Education", which is comparing

provision in Ireland with that of the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,

Denmark, and Austria.

The Intercultural Education Strategy will also take cognisance of the

views of stakeholders, based on an extensive consultation process which

was held at the end of 2008. The strategy will be published in 2010, and

will be targeted at the full spectrum of education services, from

pre-school, to youthwork and community learning.

Staying with the education area for the moment, I would like to also

mention a key piece of research which was published this year and

briefly outline a small example of the findings which I hope you might

find interesting. I am referring to the ESRI’s report "Adapting to

Diversity: Irish Schools and Newcomer Students" which was the first

national study of how schools were adapting to the changed composition

of the student body, and how students themselves were progressing. The

aim of the Irish education system in relation to newcomers is to enable

all newcomer learners to access education services and achieve on a par

with their Irish peers. I am very glad to note that to a significant

extent, the report found that this is being achieved for the majority of

newcomer students in our schools.

Some of the key findings include the following points:

o Newcomer students may raise the standard and learning expectations in

schools serving the needs of disadvantaged communities. They are also

seen by school principals as hard working and motivated. This positive

attitude must, in no small way, be attributed to parents’ aspirations

for their children.

o Whilst over 50% of all principals reported language difficulties

among a majority of their newcomer students, they also noted that

language difficulties are seen as impacting only on the students’

initial transition period and

o The majority of Irish students interviewed believe that newcomers and

increased diversity in the country were positive developments. They

welcomed exposure to new cultures and new ways of thinking.

These findings are very encouraging as a lot of resources are invested

in the Education sector. Currently over €120m has been allocated to

enable schools to engage over 2,000 teachers of English as an additional

language. It must be acknowledged that budget constraints have led to a

change in the criteria used to allocate these posts, which will lead to

a reduction in the numbers of such posts. Financial support continues to

be given to schools with fewer than 14 migrant students with English

language difficulties. This resource allocation remains a substantial

one and the challenge now is to ensure that the resources are used to

the maximum effect.

I should also mention that, in recognition of the fact that newcomer

adults also need assistance in learning English, there are over 12,500

newcomer adults learning English in classes throughout the country.

These classes are provided by the network of 33 Vocational Education

Committees, at a cost of approximately €10m in 2008.

It is clear that newcomer learners are a very positive addition to

Ireland. They present an opportunity to enhance outcomes for all

students and an opportunity for society as a whole. While there are

challenges to be addressed, these can be met through everybody working

together in the interests of all students. It is imperative that we

provide all our students, irrespective of nationality, with a high

quality, inclusive and relevant education. This education must promote

integration and create an intercultural environment, not only in our

schools, but also in our communities.

Conclusion

Finally, I hope that I have given you a sense of some of the challenges

and opportunities that diversity and integration present and an outline

of some of the responses to date in Ireland. Planning for and managing a

diverse society is not a process that has a beginning and an end; it is

a living process and one which needs to be driven by a sense of what is

good for all of us. There is no reason why we cannot achieve an

inclusive society where everyone is assured of respect for their

identity.

I know that there are participants present at this AGM from over seventy

countries so there are great opportunities to draw on the wisdom,

experience and best practice from around the world in your discussions.

From examining your agenda, I can see that this is a very action

focussed AGM and I'm sure that many excellent ideas will be exchanged

over the course of these two days. Thank you once again for welcoming me

here today and I wish you well in your discussions.