Abstract
Organisational support for asylum seekers, in the form of information and service provision, is particularly important in a country like Ireland, where the asylum population is small and relatively new (MacFarlane et al. 2009). In addition, non-profit organisations work to mitigate the social exclusion of asylum seekers engendered by the direct provision system and the exclusion of asylum seekers from the labour market (O’Mahony 2003). This report aims to fill the current gap in knowledge about the Irish asylum support sector, particularly focussing on collaboration between non-profit, non-statutory organisations (Cotter 2004; Gill et al. 2012). The data for this report was collected via an online, exploratory survey, to which 50 eligible organisations replied. The aims of the survey were to gain an overview of the field of asylum support and to address the following research questions: What effects has the recession had on the field? To what extent do asylum seekers participate in the field? What types of organisations tend to work together? Descriptive statistics and social network analysis reveal a young and changing field that is well-connected but heavily Dublin-centred. Asylum participation is high in voluntary capacities. Respondents indicated that the most pressing challenges of the recession are decreased funding and increased workload.
This project is funded by the Irish Research Council
Source: Report available here
