History

RIS Logo

The Refugee Information Service (RIS) was established in Dublin in 1998. At the time the Irish Refugee Council and the Citizens Information Centres, which were operating in the north-west inner city of Dublin became increasingly aware that there was a need for a service to be established that was dedicated to the information needs of the growing refugee and asylum-seeking community. It was clear that there was an information gap in this area. The National Social Services Board subsequently funded a one-year position for a project manager in 1998 and in the same year a Management Committee was established. In March 2000 the RIS gained company limited by guarantee status, following this a Board of Directors was appointed.

 

In Pursuit of a 'Rights Based Approach' the services provided by the RIS, supports clients in the area of protection, integration while promoting social inclusion. The mission of the RIS is to "counter social exclusion through the provision of a specialist information, referral and advocacy service to asylum seekers and refugees."

 

Since its inception, the RIS has continued to meet this mission and to fill the growing need for specialist information and advocacy for people seeking asylum and who have refugee and other legal rights to remain in Ireland.

 

The Galway office was established in 2003 and it provides a drop-in clinic service which operates three times a week. The Information and Advocacy service was further expanded in 2007 and 2008 to include drop-in clinics in various locations throughout Ireland.

 

In 2005, the RIS obtained funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies (Ireland) Limited to support its work in relation to family reunification and access to education for refugees and people with leave to remain.  This funding has enabled the RIS to appoint its first Director, Josephine Ahern, in 2006 and additional specialist staff have also been recruited in the policy, research and communications and administration areas.  The RIS published a report entitled The Family Reunification Application Process for Refugees in Ireland in September 2007 and will publish two position papers on family reunification and access to education in early 2009.

 

In 2006, the RIS conducted approximately 3,500 consultations with its clients. It took almost 1,500 inquiries via the telephone information service and the website received over 30,000 visits. Similarly in 2007, the RIS conducted over 3,000 client consultations and completed nearly 1,500 telephone queries. Once again the visits to the website visits were over 30,000. Clients to the Information and Advocacy Service were mainly from Nigeria, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq.

 

Historically, the primary activity of the RIS has been the provision of drop-in clinics in Dublin and Galway. The Information and Advocacy service is supported by the Citizens Information Board (CIB) and the RIS continues to work closely with this organisation in order to mainstream its specialist knowledge and expertise. The drop-in clinic system is supported by the RIS information services provided via telephone, email and its website.

 

As part of it day-to-day activities, a total of eight drop-in clinics are provided on a routine basis each week in Dublin and Galway and the remaining clinics have or are provided on a fortnightly and monthly basis in Counties Mayo and Galway. The RIS also supports and proactively participates in the work of community groups and is well established in terms of its relationships with the network of Citizen Information Services (CIS's) nationwide.

 

In 2007 the RIS established a pilot Family Reunification and Integration Project, funded by Pobal Supporting Communities, to assist between 50-100 refugees and people with permission to remain in Ireland with their integration needs.

 

The RIS also provides a comprehensive training and capacity building service for other service providers in the statutory and non-statutory sectors and this is a key area of growth and development for this organisation. The RIS undertakes information and public awareness raising activities with the general public, government, the media and academia, in addition to carrying out communications activities.

 

Now a specialist information and advocacy service with training provider services, the RIS responds to the refugee and asylum seeker population of the Republic of Ireland. Due to the development of services, immigrants and migrants have accessed services of the RIS since 1998 and we envisage this will continue, depending of needs of clients.