International Journal of Refugee Law Advance Access originally published online on November 14, 2008
International Journal of Refugee Law 2008 20(4):611-636; doi:10.1093/ijrl/een037
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The Policy of Direct Provision in Ireland: A Violation of Asylum Seekers’ Right to an Adequate Standard of Housing
* Senior Lecturer, Law School, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand. Email: cbreen{at}waikato.ac.nz
This article considers Ireland's policy of Direct Provision, which curtails severely the social welfare entitlements of asylum seekers. This article sets out the rights of asylum seekers in Ireland and explains the policy of Direct Provision. It analyses the right to adequate housing as provided for within the United Nations and the European legal frameworks. It acknowledges that such rights are subject to some limitations but argues that Ireland's policy of Direct Provision violates asylum seekers’ rights to an adequate standard of living, with particular focus on the right to adequate housing and the interrelated rights to food and health. It further argues that such limitations are discriminatory and that they undermine the fundamental principles of equality and human dignity. The article concludes that a correct interpretation of international and domestic law suggests that Ireland must abolish the policy of Direct Provision and revert to according social welfare entitlements on the basis of need rather than nationality.