Irish Refugee Council

📙2023 Impact Report: Salim’s Story Salim arrived in Ireland in 2016 from Lebanon, where he had spent four years in limbo after fleeing war in his home country, Syria. Before his forced departure, Salim worked as a jewellery graphic designer and helped at his family’s transportation business. “Syria was a beautiful country. Families and neighbours united. One night, we sat watching TV as a family, and then the next morning, there were bombings everywhere. Suddenly, everything changed. We left everything behind. I still wonder what happened,” he said. “When I left with my mother, sister, and her three kids, there were dead people everywhere. My sister’s husband was missing. It was like a dream,” recalls Salim. In Lebanon, the family was among the millions of refugees the country was struggling to host. The family registered with UNHCR for resettlement as Lebanon provided no pathway for citizenship and employment prospects. When they heard back, only he and his mother had been chosen to resettle in Ireland. “They (UNHCR) said you go first; we will take care of your sister, and she will join you later.” A few weeks stretched to years. He reached out to many with no results. In the interim, he struggled to cope with the demands of a new life in Ireland and meet his sister's needs in Lebanon. “My mother is disabled. In Syria, our house was always busy; neighbours, cousins, and friends came in to help. When we moved here initially, it was just me and my mother. I was doing everything: cleaning, shopping, cooking, and taking her to the hospital with no car. It was very difficult for me. I needed to send money to my sister and learn English.” “A few weeks after we arrived, your team visited us. Hassina (IRC Resettlement Officer) helped me apply for reunification. She put in many hours, and because she speaks Arabic, explaining my emotions and what I needed help with was very easy. I don’t want to say much, but my sister and her children would probably still be in Lebanon if it were not for her. We eventually found her husband and his visa was approved this February, thanks to Monika (IRC Caseworker).” Salim was reunited with his sister and nieces in 2019. She is now their mother’s primary caregiver while he works as a driver for An Post. “That was my dream job in Ireland, and thank God, I now have it. I passed all the tests the first time except the CPC (Certificate for Professional Competence). Seven times, I failed. I kept saving the money and going back. It was hard for me because it’s scenarios with no answers, and when I arrived, I could only say, ‘Hi, how are you?’” said Salim, who has successfully added English as a fourth language. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/b9e2jen Help us continue this work! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/c5aee84

📙2023 Impact Report: Gabe’s Story I’m 24. I came to Ireland last March. The first month or two, I felt it was difficult to make friends. Even though the people I lived with were nice, they all had their friends. My roommates were much older; there was very little to talk about. I felt alone in the middle of a big new city. Being part of the LGBTIQ community, I initially tried joining their meetings but soon realised our concerns were different. Mine were about safety and stability. How am I going to stay in Ireland? Can I work, can I study? How scared I was back home and here that people might find out and do something to me? Theirs were about making an impact, self-fulfilment, and raising awareness, as they were mostly European and Irish, things that I might think about later. Then, I got to know about the IRC Youth Group. By participating in the Youth Group, I got to know about Ireland and made friends from different countries. Some had just arrived; others had been here a long time. Even though we had different levels of English, we could easily find topics to talk about. In summer, we would hang out, eat, play music, and play games. Those are the things we enjoyed back home. Finally, we had the time, the space, and the people to do them with here. Apart from the friendships, IRC helped me with work placement. The experience improved my skills in working with people from different cultures and backgrounds and helped me get a job as an AI Annotator in an international tech firm. The job was my dream job before leaving my home country. Funny enough, that changed after meeting Natasha and Aoife (IRC Youth Workers). I now want to be there for other people who might be anxious coming to Ireland too. I’m studying Social Care now—a course I picked because IRC took us to YMCA, and Natasha helped me with the information I needed. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/m7a2f7f Help us continue this work in 2025! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/cenfgml

Are you driven to make a difference in the lives of refugees and people seeking protection? We're seeking a Caseworker to join our Information & Advocacy Service team! Apply now! Link 🔗 https://lght.ly/nf52mnp Deadline: 🗓️9 January 2025 #jobfairy

📙2023 Impact Report: Carolyn’s Story Carolyn worked as a banker for 15 years in her home country, Nigeria. She recalls only crossing her country's borders for work and holidays—well-planned, brief, and cherishable trips. October 2022 was different. Carolyn and her kids left hastily without a known destination fleeing political persecution. Forced to travel irregularly, it took them two months to arrive in Ireland. “My life changed in a way I could never have imagined. It gave me a totally different identity, all three of us living in one room (in Ireland) in an environment where we were the only black people. It brought lots of questions and no answers. How did I get to this point? When and how will I be able to work and feel normal again? “My children would be asking, ‘Mum, what’s happening, and when will we be in school?’. It wasn’t easy psychologically for all of us. I was on different types of anti-depressants for the first three months.” During her fourth month, Carolyn heard about the Integration From Day One, a project under our Employment programme that supported women in protection to gain the confidence, skills, and cultural competence they needed to rebuild a life in Ireland. “I met a lady who had been through the programme. From the day I started, it was rejuvenation after rejuvenation. Initially, everyone in the group was quiet, but Amaka and Gavin (IRC Programme Facilitators) made us all burst out.” After each class, she pushed herself to act on the knowledge she received. “They taught us how to edit our CVs to suit the new environment and helped me prepare for interviews. Amaka would be very plain about the need to stop isolating and be open to learning things, including the Irish culture. I learnt how to engage without overstepping boundaries. “I started attending church and told them I was a reader before leaving Nigeria. I have been reading since. With every ‘you read very well’ compliment and class attended, I became confident again to do and engage more. “I soon realised the suspicion we initially experienced was because we didn’t know each other. Otherwise, the community is very supportive. After a banking career of 15 years, I needed something new. I have found a new love in healthcare, which I had no idea could be a profession before leaving.” Carolyn now holds a QQI Level 5 in Healthcare Certificate, Customer Service Training, and another QQI Level Five Working with Groups Qualification paid for by her children’s school. She works as a healthcare assistant in Mayo while also supporting parents whose children are coming into the school for the first time voluntarily. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/ce7568j Help us continue this work in 2025! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/9mmikn

📙Impact Report 2023 Story: Hanna Dwyer, Irish Refugee Council's Information and Advocacy Service Manager 2023 was a challenging year for the Information and Advocacy Service (IAS) due to increased demand, coupled with deteriorating conditions in International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres as well as the first wave of “mass homelessness” among male International Protection applicants (IPAs). We met with 459 homeless IPAs, referring cases to our Law Centre to pursue legal challenges in the Courts. For those in accommodation, we saw conditions continue to decline throughout the year. Despite the pressures on our service, our IAS team conducted outreach to 20 IPAS centres, across eight counties, reaching 334 people with information. Our focus was delivering information on the international protection process, but we also gave an overview of rights and entitlements. In some cases, we discussed accommodation conditions. While we still provided information via the helpline, the increased demand for services meant we had to consider new ways to deliver our work. We automated our data recording and elements of relationship management, produced explainer videos for service users, and supported local groups supporting IPAs and refugees with relevant training—measures that allowed us to reach more people with essential information. In 2023, we also saw some positive decisions issued with respect to Afghan Admissions Programme applications and, families finally arriving to Ireland based on family reunification applications. However, most families experienced significant delays waiting for their family reunification applications to be processed and had not seen each other for many years by the time they were finally reunited. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lnkd.in/eJ6ysKkn Please help us continue this work in 2025!🙏 Donate🔗 https://lnkd.in/eP9YCgfU

This year, we welcomed 32 individuals with the incredible support of 11 dedicated community groups. We are very grateful to these groups for their unwavering welcome and support for people in need of safety. We are proud to have collaborated with our partners at Nasc, Doras and the Irish Red Cross on this work, recruiting and supporting the groups involved. Here’s to building on this success in 2025! Donate to support this work🔗 https://lght.ly/p1c8375 #2024Wrapped #CommunitySponsorship #RefugeeResettlement

📙2023 Impact Report Story: Katie Mannion, Managing Solicitor, Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre. In Spring 2023, the Law Centre represented 10 newly arrived international protection applicants in High Court Judicial Review proceedings, challenging the State’s failure to provide them with reception conditions, leaving them in a situation of street homelessness and destitution. The High Court judge chose to hear two of the Law Centre clients’ cases as lead cases, to identify the legal issues and entitlements, which were relevant to many of the international protection applicants who continued to experience homelessness. Our client, SY, fled Afghanistan due to the Taliban and arrived in Ireland when he was 17 years old. He was not offered accommodation and received only a one-off Dunnes voucher. As a result, he experienced street homelessness, had no access to basic hygiene conditions, was threatened with a knife attack, robbed of €5, and felt afraid, hungry, ashamed, and humiliated. Mr. Justice Meenan concluded that, by failing to provide reception conditions, the Minister had breached his obligations under the Reception Conditions Regulations and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in particular Article 1 which recognises that “Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected”. He granted Declarations that those rights had been breached. By June 2023, all newly arriving international protection applicants were offered accommodation. Another of the Law Centre’s cases was chosen as one of two lead cases in respect of the matter of Damages for failure to provide material reception conditions and was heard by the High Court in November 2023. The judgment, issued in December 2023, emphasised that “the State remains under a continuing, mandatory obligation to provide international protection applicants with basic needs including accommodation on an uninterrupted basis from the point at which qualifying persons apply for international protection”. In February 2024, Mr. Justice Ferriter referred the question of whether force majeure is available as a defence to a breach of an EU law obligation based on the fundamental right to dignity to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It could take 18 months for a decision on this. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/g7nga2i Help us continue this work in 2025! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/h7f0a7

📙2023 Impact Report: Happiness’ Story Happiness, a Zimbabwean by birth, sought protection in Ireland in 2021. Her decision to flee was prompted by harrowing abuse, including imprisonment and death threats from her politically influential ex-husband and his family. Battling ghosts from the past and life as a protection applicant, her early days were characterised by mistrust, anxiety, and depression. “I had no knowledge of the process of asylum application, and it took a toll on my mental health. I was overwhelmed that I had made it alive so far away from home and uncertain if I was completely safe. I was initially skeptical about sharing my story, not sure who to trust and if I would be exposed to my perpetrators... “My time in quarantine was the most stressful, alone and wondering how my daughters, whom I left back home, were doing and if they would be safe. At some point, I felt like a coward for saving myself and not my children, wondering if anything happened to them would I forgive myself.” Knowing she needed help, Happiness started by seeking counselling. It was from her counsellor that she heard about the IRC. Happiness contacted the IRC Independent Law Centre for help with her application and the Education team for assistance with enrolling in Higher and Tertiary Education. “I received great support in filling out and understanding questions in my application and submitted through my solicitor. At this stage, I felt a ray of hope as I could ask and communicate with my solicitor about any concerns I had. “I had both emotional and legal support from the Law Centre. I had two hearings. On both occasions, my solicitor went in with me to support me. Even after my results, which I was not satisfied with, my solicitor helped me arrange for an appeal. The process was so smooth, and knowing you had someone for support was relieving. The Law Centre is a people-centred service, and it makes it easy for you to tell your story at ease.” Speaking about the education supports, Happiness said, “The lady in the (IRC) Education department referred me to the UCD mature student programme and that was the beginning of my educational journey. I had loads of financial support for resources and transportation.” Happiness now has refugee status and will soon be reunited with her daughters. She is working as a Social Care worker while pursuing BSocSC Sociology and Social Policy at UCD, and dreams of helping women facing abuse worldwide. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/dm3p96 Help us continue this work in 2025! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/bdaa7l4

📙2023 Impact Report Story: Doireann Breathnach, Former Board Chair. 2023 was an extremely challenging year for the Irish Refugee Council. We witnessed a disturbing decline in the treatment of people escaping persecution and violence. The most striking manifestation of this was street homelessness for people seeking protection, a situation that continues. Worryingly, the voices that seek to cause division and hate in Ireland also became louder. They challenge the very concept of offering protection and target refugees as the source of social ills. Despite these challenges, communities and individuals across Ireland stepped up to support people. There are countless stories, many untold, of positivity, success and inspiration. It is these that will endure, not the actions of an extreme minority. I am extremely proud of the work and impact of the Irish Refugee Council. Through the relentless determination and commitment of our staff, we serve and champion the individual in so many ways, as demonstrated in this impact report. We provided substantial support to 20,890 people. Our work received significant recognition when we were awarded Charity of the Year by Charities Institute Ireland in October. This could not be done without the help of the many people, foundations and companies who support our work. Human dignity cannot be diminished by those who wish to create fear of vulnerable groups. Irish values cannot and will not be defined by those who seek to be exclusionary and racist. This is my last year as a member of the board after a seven-year term and I am prouder than ever that the Irish Refugee Council is an organisation that fights for the vulnerable and for the individual knowing that every human story deserves dignity. 📙2023 Impact Report🔗 https://lght.ly/750604a Help us continue this work in 2025! 🙏Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/p8j6h2m

📙In September, we launched our 2023 Impact Report, highlighting the growth of our work. We provided substantial support to 20,890 people, including 1,057 individuals facing homelessness, among other achievements. Behind these numbers are real lives and futures transformed. Together, we made it happen! Read the report🔗 https://lght.ly/iaffl30 Please help us grow our impact in 2025! Donate🔗 https://lght.ly/angk4l4 🎄 #2024wrapped