The local and European elections take place this Friday, 23rd May 2014.

Further to the Irish Refugee Council’s letter for local election candidates, and based on a Written Answer from Alan Shatter TD to a Parliamentary Question put by Mary Lou McDonald TD (25th March 2013), I have drafted a PDF list of the local electoral areas (and local authorities) where Direct Provision centres are based.

Direct provision centres local electoral areas. Click for PDF.

This has been put together quite quickly, and may contain some errors. All suggestions for correction or amendment are welcome.

I wrote last week about the attempt by the Reception & Integration Agency to impede access by election canvassers to voters living in Direct Provision centres. Below is a round-up of related coverage across the media.

(Any omissions are mine, and unintended. Please let me know if you think there is anything else that should be included.)

A Direct Provision centre in Dublin. Image: Google Streetview

Tuesday

• Direct Provision centres and election canvassers – Storify, 13th May 2014
• Voters in Direct Provision being denied election information – Immigrant Council of Ireland, 13th May 2014
• Politicians are not allowed to talk to people seeking asylum in Ireland – TheJournal.ie, 13th May 2014

Wednesday

• Ban on political canvassing in Direct Provision Centres under fire – Morning Ireland, RTÉ Radio 1, 14th May 2014
• An Interference with the Democratic Process: The Right to Vote – Human Rights in Ireland, 14th May 2014
• Alternatively – Broadsheet, 14th May 2014
• Access for candidates to Direct Provision Centres to be raised with Minister – Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh – Sinn Féin, 14th May 2014
• Ban on political canvassing in Direct Provision Centres under fire – RTÉ News, 14th May 2014
• Nasc launches ‘What’s Food Got To Do With It?’ report – Nasc, 14th May 2014
• Direct provision is ‘humanity denied’ – Galway Independent, 14th May 2014

Thursday

• Direct Provision, Local Elections and Political Campaigning – Human Rights in Ireland, 15th May 2014
• Seek and You Will Find – Broadsheet, 15th May 2014
• U-turn allows asylum seekers to receive election pamphlets, but no canvassers – Irish Examiner (Breaking News), 15th May 2014
• Nasc comments on change in RIA policy on election leaflets – Nasc, 15th May 2014
• The campaign trail, asylum seekers, and access to Direct Provision centres – Irish Refugee Council, 15th May 2014
• Ban on canvassing in direct provision centres criticised – Cork Independent, 15th May 2014
• Canvassing in Direct Provision Centres – Liveline, RTÉ Radio 1, 15th May 2014
• Dáil Éireann PQ Written Answers – Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System – KildareStreet.com, 15th May 2014

Friday

• Direct Provision System Challenged in the High Court: Days 3-11 – Human Rights in Ireland, 16th May 2014
• A letter for local election candidates – Irish Refugee Council, 16th May 2014

As per the update from Dr Liam Thornton on the Human Rights in Ireland blog, there have been some developments in relation to access to election information for residents in direct provision accommodation, who have the right to vote in local elections.

Voter pamphlet. Image: Pete Forsyth/Wikimedia (CC Licence)

In a Circular issued yesterday by the Reception & Integration Agency, candidates may now leave election literature in direct provision centres. It’s available on the Human Rights in Ireland blog as a PDF, here. The Irish Refugee Council has published a transcript of it and its predecessor, here. I include the transcript below.

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The following document was released some years ago to Dr Liam Thornton, a lecturer in law at the UCD School of Law, under a Freedom of Information request for any and all documents related to the legal regulation of Direct Provision.

I have included a transcript of the document further below, for ease of reading.

Reception & Integration Agency circular on Distribution or display of party political leaflets, posters or circulars, 18th July 2008
(Click to enlarge.)

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This morning, local Sinn Féin candidate, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, claimed on Twitter that he had been prevented from accessing a Direct Provision centre in Cork in order to canvass residents. The centre houses 152 asylum seekers, each of whom (over the age of 18 years) has the right to vote in local elections.

Mr Ó Laoghaire later alleged that he had been told by centre staff that the decision was based on a “Ministerial directive” and that the state-owned centre has been designated a “neutral zone,” where no political activity is permitted.

He subsequently tweeted that he had telephoned the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), the Department of Justice and Equality’s state agency with responsibility for reception and accommodation centres where asylum seekers and victims of trafficking are housed in Ireland.

Rang RIA.Confirmed that its a policy not to allow Canvassers in. Has to be kept ‘politically neutral’ zone. Decision by Director I’m told

He claims he was told that this was a nation-wide policy, not confined to the centre in Cork.

I telephoned RIA, the Department of Justice and Equality, and the accommodation centre to enquire about Mr Ó Laoghaire’s claims.

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