LATEST NEWS:

Our AGM will be on in the Metropole Hotel on Saturday the 9th of June. We'll start by talking about the work we've been doing over the past year. If you're curious, PLEASE DO COME ALONG! Members will vote in a new board following that intro. Click here to download the invitation with all the details.

Nasc is recruiting a full time Communications and Campaigning Officer. The closing date for applications is 24 May 2012. Click on this link to download the job spec.

Nasc is recuiting for two part-time interns. The closing date for applications is 7 May 2012. Click on the links to download a .pdf with further information about each position:
- Integration Intern
- Development and Fundraising Intern

"Goodwill is not enough" - Legal experts call for reform of Ireland's citizenship laws. Legal experts gathered in UCC on Tuesday to share information about the reform that has taken place in Ireland’s naturalisation system over the past year, and to discuss the need for new legislation to govern decisions about who can become a citizen of Ireland. Read more here.

We welcome the state climb down in permitting Romanian and Bulgarian parents of Irish citizens free access to the labour market. Read our press release here. 

We hope that some of our friends (including the ones we don't know yet!) will come to meet some of the amazing women who will be at our coffee morning for International Women's Day on the 8th of March. All the details are here. 

Justice Catherine McGuinness to chair public meeting on Ireland's naturalisation process, in UCC, on March 13th. Nasc and the Immigrant Council of Ireland launched their joint report, "Living in Limbo: Migrants' Experiences of Applying for Citizenship in Ireland" in May 2011. Since then, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has introduced some changes to the process. This event will explore how these reforms have affected applicants, and where the opportunities for positive reform lie now. The event will be chaired by Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness. Speakers include Catherine Cosgrave, Solicitor with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Professor Siobhán Mullally of the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, UCC, Michael Lynn, BL, and Fiona Finn, BCL, CEO of Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre. It will take place on Tuesday 13 March 2012, 12.30 - 2pm, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, UCC, Cork. Read more about this, including the report, here. 

Roundtable discussion on immigration rules for migrant women experiencing domestic violence - Monday 05 March 2012, EU Parliament Buildings, Molesworth St., Dublin 2, 11am - 2pm. Full details including contributors' biographies here. 

Minister Joan Burton acknowledges issues faced by immigrants accessing social protection, promises change. YouTube clip (2 1/2 mins) showing key moments from Minister Burton's speech in response to the report "Person or Number?"

Person or Number? is online now Click on the image on the left to download the Pdf. The Irish Times ran the story today: "Failings left 10 migrants homeless"

Zach's story: Zach has fallen through the cracks in our social protection system, and been told to go “home,” even though his children are Irish citizens and Ireland is their home. But he’s a hard worker, who will survive…His story is like some of the 54 stories that feature in the Person or Number report (see below), which has featured in today's news. Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has promised to attend the launch. We'll keep you posted via Twitter and Facebook, and we'll launch the report online at the same time.

Nasc, Doras Luimní and Crosscare Migrant Project, joint Press Release: SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEM FAILS MIGRANTS. A report called “Person or Number? Barriers faced by immigrants accessing social protection in Ireland” will be launched on 21st February 2012, at 2.30pm, in Buswell’s Hotel, Molesworth St, Dublin 1.

Click on any of these headlines to read the full story, in January's newsletter:

1. Guidelines on access to social housing for immigrants revised following public campaign. 
We have been complaining loudly about discrimination in the assessment of eligibility for social housing for a while now, and we very strongly welcome therevised guidelines, which are much fairer; for example, the entitlement of the family that featured in our case study in the Irish Examiner will be recognised now. The revised guidelines and the story behind this successful advocacy campaign are on our site.
  
3. Celebrating the reunification of seven families so far this year.
January was a good month in Nasc's legal clinics, which celebrated seven successful family reunifications during the month. We were particularly touched by the joyful reaction of one man, who has been apart from his familyfor four years, and who asked us to teach him how to say thanks in Irish!
 
4. "I might as well be sent to the moon": Aleksandra's story
We are often frustrated by the difficulties faced by young people who came to Ireland as children, with their migrant worker parents. When they turn 18, many of these young people find themselves excluded from education and employment in Ireland. This month however, one of the young people with whom we work got lucky. Our full newsletter includes Aleksandra's story, in her own words.