Submission in relation to the proposed development of a National Integration Policy
On behalf of
Galway County Community & Voluntary Forum
8th May, 2014
Submitted by
Denise Feeney, Galway County Community Forum Co-ordinator
Background
Proposals for the establishment of Community & Voluntary Fora in each Local Authority area
were included in the Local Government Act 2000 and supported by the Department of the
Environment. A forum was established in County Galway with financial support from the
Department and Galway County Council in 2001 and sought to bring together diverse numbers
and types of community and voluntary groups to form a collective voice in engaging with local
government and other agencies .
The Galway Community & Voluntary Forum (Fóram Pobal) acts as a collective voice of
community and voluntary groups to ensure that the diverse needs of communities in County
Galway are met. It aims to effect change through awareness raising, lobbying and campaigning
on behalf of and with community and voluntary groups and those experiencing marginalisation
in County Galway. The County Galway Community & Voluntary Forum ascribes to the values of
equality, justice, inclusiveness, empowerment and transparency.
It provides a network of support and solidarity to community and voluntary groups seeking to
affect positive change for communities in County Galway. The Community Forum also highlights
and influences change on community issues through lobbying policy makers and participation in
policy making structures. Fóram Pobal consists of all the community and voluntary bodies in County
Galway who are registered members of the Fórum. Groups must register on an annual basis.
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Galway County Community Forum and Integration
Galway County Community Forum has always been active in the field of social inclusion in County
Galway, hosting conferences and seminars on matters relating to specific target groups and providing
inputs and submissions to policies affecting those who are socially excluded. The Fóram Pobal, through
either it’s co-ordinator, or other voluntary members of it’s executive committee has played an active
role in the activities and priorities of the Social Inclusion Measures Committee (SIM)of the County
Development Board.
In 2008, in reviewing it’s priorities, the SIM Committee identified the needs of Ethnic Minorities and
Migrants as one it’s priorities for action in the following period. A sub-group of the committee was
formed in order to bring agencies and organizations together to develop an Integraton and Diversity
Strategy for County Galway. Galway Community Forum was one of the core groups involved in this
committee, and also provided a lead role in the development of the Strategy in relation to one of the
key themes of the Strategy “Community Participation”.
In 2009, Galway County Council was successful in applying for, and being awarded funding from the
Office for the Minister for Integration for the research into, and the development of an Integration
Strategy for the County, and as a part of this, the Community Forum undertook the task of assisting with
the establishment of a Migrant’s Forum for the County.
This forum, which was established in August 2011, and is now called the Galway County Intercultural
Forum, has since been supported by both the Community Forum and other staff in the Community and
Enterprise Unit of Galway County Council. Based on the experience gained by the Forum executive, the
learning for members of the community forum, and the consultations and joint activities that have been
undertaken between Community Forum and Intercultural Forum members, the Community Forum
wishes to make the following observations / recommendations in regards to any future Integration
Strategy for the Country.
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Galway County Integration and Diversity Strategy
In Galway County, groups and agencies locally already sitting together with an interest in Social Inclusion
had identified the importance of Integration as a key social inclusion area. However, the availability of a
fund at national level that could be accessed by the Council, to deliver both a strategy and some related
ancilliary activities in support of that strategy through a dedicated funding stream, was invaluable in
taking that work forward.
The Strategy is the result of an energetic effort by the people and service providers of Galway County to
address the significant demographic changes that have taken place throughout the County over the past
decade or more. Like the rest of Ireland, there has always been diversity within County Galway, with a
large Traveller population and various religious faiths. This diversity was not always named and
recognised. However, with recent immigration and emigration trends, diversity of culture, languages,
religion and traditions have become more visible and led to the need to increase understanding,
awareness and respect of cultures. The Irish economy, like the population, has dramatically changed in
the last several years. Economic cutbacks in all public and community services, demanding mergers,
heavy workloads, and overstretched staff resources, have impacted upon the level of service that can be
provided, often affecting the most vulnerable members of our society. Some of the organisations who
were heavily involved in the support of ethnic minorities at the outset of this Strategy, such as Galway
Refugee Support Group (GRSG), no longer exist, due to funding being discontinued, while Dún Gibbons
Direct Provision Accommodation Centre has closed.
As integration is a two way process, the County Strategy is for everyone living and/or working in County
Galway with a particular focus on integrating minority ethnic communities. The strategy addresses the
need for change across a wide variety of areas of the public service including in the provision of
education and in creating role models in tutors, educators and facilitators from ethnic minorities and
newly settled communities in Ireland; the need for changes in the way health and other public services
deliver and configure their services to meet diverse language, cultural and religious needs; the lack of
expertise in the delivery of information services at community level, especially outside of the major
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towns and cities; and the lack of opportunities for employment for people whose work experience and
qualifications were gained outside of Ireland.
One of the most strongly expressed prevailing views coming from the consultation processes which
were engaged in as part of developing the Integration and Diversity Strategy for County Galway, was
that above all else, the migrants and ethnic minorities consulted with wanted to maximize the
opportunities to interact with their Irish neighbours, fellow workers, fellow residents and the
community at large, as integration was felt to be a sense of “belonging” in the community that is built
up and developed as a result of many and diverse opportunities for interactions between people from
different communities and ethnic backgrounds. For these reasons, the representatives brought together
to form a Migrants Forum were very strongly of the view that they wished this to be an Intercultural
Forum and that there should also be Irish people represented on it. They also wished the Forum to
address the critical issues facing those in the Asylum system, such as those in Direct Provision, those
who are struggling with the aftermath of leaving Direct Provision and also the plight of those affected by
loss of work permits or facing exploitation from unethical employers.
Recommendations for the future National Integration Strategy
1.A National Integration Strategy should set out how integration might work in practice drawing on best
practice in other countries, and offering specific recommendations for all Departments of Government
and in relation to minimum standards of service and treatment in every avenue of public service.
2.The government should consider some mechanism for the encouragement of diversity in employment
when any new recruitment / training processes for the public service are put in place to attempt to
ensure that there is a better reflection of the ethnic diversity in the population in the public services
which serve that population.
3.Consideration should be given to how the Irish language and specific religious requirements for teacher
training education may militate against a more diverse teacher population and the importance of
changing this proactively to provide more role models in our schools of teachers from ethnic minority
backgrounds.
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4.The provision of a greater variety of languages as part of the Leaving Certificate curriculum should be
investigated, and methods whereby young people who speak other languages as their first language but
are dispersed across various locations eg as in a rural County or in smaller towns, could be supported to
follow a supervised curriculum perhaps through online clusters of learning.
5.Any national Integration Strategy should have as its starting point the review of the status and
priorities already identified from the large body of work and consultation already completed or
underway in many Counties as part of the local process of developing Integration Strategies.
6.Funding should be made available at a central level for both Local Authorities and also for reputable
community and voluntary bodies, including established Intercultural and Integration Forums, to sustain
and develop their work and to provide expertise on the ground in local areas.
7.Government should underpin it’s commitment to fund Local Integration Strategies, Local Authorities
and a network of specialist NGOs or local integration/intercultural forums, by putting in place a national
system or structure for the support of the Integration work being carried out in the local areas. This could
involve, inter alia:
The provision of guidance in relation to good practice
Agreed systems for monitoring and evaluation of actions / activities in support of integration
8.Government is presently engaged in a process of realigning supports for Social Inclusion work and Local
and Community Development and also in the requirement to establish Public Participatory Networks
(PPNs) in each Local Authority Area to provide the mechanism for participation and representation of all
types of community and voluntary effort into various statutory decision making frameworks. The new
Integration Strategy should address as a matter of urgency how the needs of ethnic minorities and
migrants could be met within such structures, particularly in circumstances where groups are organised
at a level that does not correspond to the Local Authority area.
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9.It is important that within the Strategy for Integration there is a focus on giving support to the regions
which have suffered unduly from the withdrawal of all government support for integration work in recent
years, and that both specialist “expertise” in relation to migration and integration issues be supported as
well as fostering strong links between these structures and the more generic community development
and community participation networks and structures on the ground to ensure that there is a culture of
mutual support between the specialist and generalist structures for participation and community
development.
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