Flanagan statement on family reunification scheme reveals ‘cynical opportunism’

An immigration lawyer who criticised Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan’s announcement of a new family reunification scheme claims she has been vindicated by his recent statement in the Dáil.

She also said the scheme was “diverting attention” from a policy change stripping the right to family reunification from refugees who acquire Irish citizenship.

Announcing the scheme this month, Mr Flanagan said his new Family Reunification Humanitarian Admission Programme (FRHAP) followed “detailed discussions on family reunification in the Seanad”.

The International Protection (Family Reunification) (Amendment) Bill, approved by senators at committee stage, would allow refugees to bring grandparents, cousins, nephews, nieces and siblings to Ireland.

However, in a written Dáil answer, Mr Flanagan has confirmed that the Government “does not intend to amend the family reunification provisions under the International Protection Act 2015”.

He said the FRHAP will “address the issue of family reunification for some immediate family members coming from established conflict zones that are outside the scope of the International Protection Act 2015”.

“The Minister’s reply confirms that it was never intended to take on board any aspect of the Seanad bill”

However, Mr Flanagan insisted that his new scheme still “addresses many of the motivating concerns of the Senators who proposed the Bill”.

The Government has effectively vetoed the Seanad bill by declining a money message for it, claiming that it would have “significant and unquantifiable impacts on the provision of housing, healthcare, education, welfare payments and other State supports”.

Commenting, Ms Lyon told Irish Legal News: “The Minister’s reply confirms that it was never intended to take on board any aspect of the Seanad bill and that the announcement of a so-called new scheme to coincide with the bill’s failure was just a bit of cynical opportunism.

“The Minister also seems to be diverting attention from a new policy that was suddenly introduced last month, taking away the right to family reunification from refugees who have been granted Irish citizenship. Many people whose applications had been accepted and were awaiting a decision for up to two years have now been told that they aren’t eligible. This is causing enormous distress to a lot of our clients and it’s entirely unclear why the Department has decided to do this now, after many years of accepting that naturalised refugees still had the right to be joined by family members they left behind.”