An Exploratory Study of NGO Advocacy surrounding the Reception Conditions of Asylum Seekin

327 Pages·2017·2.34 MB·English

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Advocating and Setting Agendas: An Exploratory Study of
NGO Advocacy surrounding the Reception Conditions of
Title
Asylum Seeking Children and Families in Ireland and its
Influence on Agenda Setting
Author(s) Kinlen, Louise
Publication
2013-03-20
Date
Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/3704
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Advocating and Setting Agendas: An Exploratory Study of NGO
Advocacy surrounding the Reception Conditions of Asylum Seeking
Children and Families in Ireland and its Influence on Agenda Setting

A thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD. to the National University of
Ireland, Galway

Louise Kinlen

Professor Chris Curtin
Supervisor
School of Political Science and Sociology,
National University of Ireland, Galway

March 2013

i
Table of Contents
List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... iv 
List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iv 
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................... v 
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi 
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... vii 
Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 
1.1  Overview and context ........................................................................................ 1 
1.2  Rationale and research question ........................................................................ 6 
1.3  Parameters and location of the study ............................................................... 10 
1.4  Theoretical underpinnings ............................................................................... 12 
1.5  Approach to the research ................................................................................. 15 
1.6  Limitations and challenges of the study .......................................................... 16 
1.7  Structure of the thesis ...................................................................................... 17 
Chapter Two: Making Policy, Setting Agendas and Advocating for Change ............ 19 
2.1  Introduction ..................................................................................................... 19 
2.2  Understanding and analysis of influencing the public policy process............. 21 
2.3  Policy network approaches .............................................................................. 31 
2.4  Public advocacy and interaction with public policy ....................................... 34 
2.5  Specialist advocacy for children ...................................................................... 52 
2.6  Specialist advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers ..................................... 53 
2.7  Chapter conclusions ......................................................................................... 61 
Chapter Three: Policy-making, Asylum and Reception Conditions - The Irish
Context .............................................................................................................................. 63 
3.1  Introduction ..................................................................................................... 63 
3.2  Influencing social policy – the Irish context ................................................... 64 
3.3  Immigration and asylum in Ireland ................................................................. 69 
3.4  Children, Direct Provision and human rights .................................................. 78 
3.5  Specific human rights concerns ....................................................................... 84 
3.6  EU asylum policy ............................................................................................ 92 
3.7  Chapter conclusions ......................................................................................... 95 
Chapter Four: Research Design and Methodology ...................................................... 98 
4.1  Introduction ..................................................................................................... 98 
4.2  Research design and rationale ......................................................................... 98 
4.3  Outline of research process............................................................................ 109 
4.4  Sampling ........................................................................................................ 124 
ii
4.5  Challenges and ethical considerations ........................................................... 127 
4.6  Data analysis .................................................................................................. 128 
4.7  Chapter conclusions ....................................................................................... 131 
Chapter Five: NGO Advocacy Strategies .................................................................... 133 
5.1  Introduction ................................................................................................... 133 
5.2  How advocates raise concerns and strategies they use .................................. 134 
5.3  Outsider strategies and influencing public opinion ....................................... 150 
5.4  Funding environment and the role of philanthropy ....................................... 155 
5.5  Chapter conclusions ....................................................................................... 156 
Chapter Six: NGOs Adaptation of Strategies and Attempts at Agenda Setting ...... 158 
6.1  Introduction ................................................................................................... 158 
6.2  How have advocates adapted their strategies over time? .............................. 159 
6.3  Key concerns and their articulation ............................................................... 172 
6.4  The proposed IRP Bill ................................................................................... 182 
6.5  Chapter conclusions ....................................................................................... 187 
Chapter Seven: The State Response and the Intersection of Advocacy and Agenda
Setting.............................................................................................................................. 190 
7.1  Introduction ................................................................................................... 190 
7.2  Interagency Groups: opening and closing of windows of opportunity ......... 193 
7.3  Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children .................................... 198 
7.4  Policy makers perceptions of policy formulation and agenda setting ........... 210 
7.5  Policy Makers’ perspectives of NGO advocacy and its influence ................ 220 
7.6  Chapter Conclusions ..................................................................................... 231 
Chapter Eight: Advocacy and Influencing the Public Agenda - Discussion and
Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 234 
8.1  Introduction ................................................................................................... 234 
8.2  Adaptation of agenda setting in current study ............................................... 237 
8.3  Multiple streams approach to placing concerns on public agenda ................ 244 
8.4  Understanding the particular challenges of pro-asylum advocacy ................ 253 
8.5  Conclusions ................................................................................................... 258 
8.6  Implications for practice ................................................................................ 261 
8.7  Concluding remarks ....................................................................................... 264 
Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 266 
Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 297 

iii
List of Tables
Table 4.3.1  Overview of research process .................................................................... 110 
Table 4.4.1  Summary of interview participants ............................................................ 124 
Table 5.3.2  Outsider strategies and their purposes ....................................................... 152 

List of Figures
Figure 2.2.4  Adaptation of model to current study ....................................................... 28 
Figure 2.4.4  Capacities for advocacy combine to create ‘windows’ ............................ 43 
Figure 1.4.7  Key concepts in linking advocacy and agenda setting ............................. 51 
Figure 3.3.2  Number of applications received at ORAC from 1991 to 2011 ............... 71 
Figure 4.2.1  Linking elements of research strategy ...................................................... 99 
Figure 4.2.3  Theoretical perspectives and concepts ................................................... 103 
Figure 4.2.5  Linking of key concepts and research questions .................................... 108 
Figure 5.2.3.1    NGO perspectives on effective advocacy strategies .............................. 137 
Figure 5.2.3.2    Visual representation of advocacy strategies from Nvivo ..................... 139 
Figure 8.2.1  Linking of theoretical concepts used in the research ............................. 238 
Figure 8.2.2  Multiple streams framework linking of advocacy and agenda setting ... 243 

iv
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
ACF Advocacy Coalition Framework
CERD Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
DCYA Department of Children and Youth Affairs
DP Direct Provision (system of accommodation for asylum seekers)
ECHR European Convention on Human Rights
ECtHR European Court of Human Rights
ECRE European Council on Refugees and Exiles
FLAC Free Legal Advice Centres
HSE Health Services Executive
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
IRC Irish Refugee Council
IRP Bill Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
ORAC Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner
PQ Parliamentary Question
RIA Reception and Integration Agency
TD Teachta Dála, Irish word for member of parliament
UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UPR Universal Periodic Review
v
Abstract
Asylum seekers arriving in Ireland are accommodated under a system known as Direct
Provision and Dispersal. Under this policy families may spend seven years or more in
communal hostel accommodation, with meals provided and small weekly allowances.
Asylum seekers are not permitted to work and personal autonomy is limited. Concerns
have been raised since its inception in 2000 by NGOs, academics, health professionals
and the international community. These have included human rights and humanitarian
issues such as overcrowding, malnutrition, mental and physical health, poverty, social
exclusion, lack of play and study space, child protection and parenting challenges. NGOs
have been to the fore in advocating for policy change in this area, with some lobbying and
campaigning for change for over a decade. Several national and regional NGOs have
formed coalitions and are attempting to influence policy makers, with a stronger focus
now placed on elected politicians as opposed to civil servants. This thesis seeks to explore
such advocacy, focusing on how it is received at state level and how the NGOs attempt to
put their concerns on the public policy agenda.
A constructionist research design was used in addressing this central research question,
incorporating a case study approach, giving voice to the various actors in the process. In
addition to some initial surveying of NGOs, in-depth interviews were undertaken with
NGO advocates, senior civil servants, politicians, funders and observers. The research
was influenced by a theoretical framework, based around the concept of agenda setting
(Kingdon 1995), and informed by the literature on advocacy and theories on the
challenges of pro-asylum advocacy. The research highlighted that whilst some windows
of opportunity have opened for advocates to place their concerns on the public agenda,
they have not stayed open for long and their attempts at overall policy reform have not
been very successful. Challenges have included a divergence of worldviews between
advocates and some state actors who may be opposed to or indifferent to their concerns
and view the role of the State vis-à-vis asylum seekers very differently. The research also
proposes a revised framework (based on the multiple streams model of agenda setting) for
understanding the intersection between advocacy and agenda setting in the policy making
process.

vi
Acknowledgements
This thesis would never have been completed without the encouragement, support and
assistance of so many individuals. I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Chris
Curtin for his support, focus and ability to see the bigger picture. I would also like to
thank the members of the Graduate Review Committee Dr. Ciara Smyth and Dr. Celia
Keenaghan for their expert advice and input.
Special thanks are also due to everyone in the Child and Family Research Centre where I
have been based. Dr. John Canavan and Professor Pat Dolan have been very supportive
throughout. I would like to thank everyone for the peer support, especially in the PhD
corner. A big thank you also to Leanne and Jessica for their encouragement and listening
ears. Liam provided great assistance, particularly in the beginning in the search for
‘policy models’ and introduced me to the work of Kingdon. I need to say a special word
to all those who have assisted with proof-reading of chapters: My parents, Philip, Leanne,
Jessica and Benjamin. I would also like to thank Rosie Dunne, research librarian for all
the assistance with EndNote.
This study would not have been possible without all the individuals and organisations that
participated so willingly in the research. They are the ones that really brought the study to
light. Their insights and candid accounts were a huge assistance, as well as all the
additional reading material and support they provided.
On a personal level I received help and encouragement from so many people. Special
friends who have helped me through this process include Aileen, Elaine, Geraldine, Helen
and Karen. My family have kept me grounded and encouraged me along the way. A very
special thank you is due to Lorraine who has kept everyone happy at home. I most
especially want to say thank Benjamin, Abigail, Antoine and Samuel for their love,
kindness and patience, whilst I was busy writing my ‘big book’.

vii

Chapter One:
Introduction
1.1 Overview and context
1.1.1 Overview
Migration patterns in Ireland underwent significant changes during the 1990s when there
was a large increase in the number of people migrating to Ireland. For the first time in
recent history, inward migration exceeded outward migration, leading to a shift from a
country defined as nation of emigration to one of immigration. Ireland was placed on the
international map and began to open up. At the same time, the number of people seeking
asylum in Ireland began to increase. Whilst sensationalist media headlines during the late
1990s spoke in terms of ‘hordes’ and an ‘influx’ or ‘deluge’ of asylum seekers arriving,
throughout the 1990s, they still represented a small and declining percentage of total
migrants to Ireland (Fanning and Mutwarasibo, 2007).
Prior to the 1990s, the numbers of people arriving in Ireland to seek asylum was very low,
with most of the refugee arrivals coming through organised refugee programmes. Unlike
other countries, which took in large numbers of refugees following World War II, Ireland
accepted very few refugees at this time. It acceded to the Geneva Convention on the
Status of Refugees in 1956 and in the same year accepted 539 Hungarian refugees who
had fled following the failed uprising. This was followed by a small groups of Chilean
refugees in 1973, 212 Vietnamese refugees in 1979 and 455 Bosnian programme refugees
from 1992-1998. For most of these refugees, the supports they received were very
minimal, with little English language and other educational or integration supports (Prutz
Phiri, 2003). Ireland in the past did not have an established tradition of being a receiving
country for asylum seekers or refugees in comparison with other European countries. This
was partly due to geographic, political and economic isolation and the fact that Ireland
was a small island and not traditionally an access point for people fleeing conflict.
In the 1990s Ireland began to experience a new phenomenon of larger numbers of people
arriving spontaneously in the country to seek asylum, leading to a peak in 2003 and
declining ever since. In 1992, only 39 people arrived spontaneously to seek asylum in
Ireland, which then rose dramatically and peaked at over 11,000 applicants in 2002. Since
1