Civil servants told to stop using Wikipedia for asylum claims

Ken Foxe, Public Affairs Correspondent

Wikipedia: edited by the public

TWO public bodies dealing with refugee claims had to put guidelines in place to stop civil servants and decision makers from using Wikipedia to adjudicate on asylum applications.

Investigators from the Refugee Applications Commissioner were basing some of their decisions on the online encyclopaedia, which is edited by the public and considered unreliable.

The Department of Jusrice has confirmed that members of the Commission and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal have been advised that Wikipedia should "not be used as a primary or reliable source" of information.

Concerns have been raised that entries on Wikipedia are changed for political reasons to reflect better human rights practices in some countries. A number of embassies in Ireland have repeatedly claimed there is no female genital mutilation in their country, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Robin Hanan, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, said: "We would welcome any guidelines clarifying the use of Wikipedia because there has been at least one high-profile case in recent years where this website was used in a decision."

The use of Wikipedia as a source has been heavily criticised in the US where lobby groups found references to it in more than 100 legal judgements.

Jason Richards of the American Association for Justice wrote: "More and more law students and law professors are citing to entries in this publicly authored website in their papers. Attorneys are relying on it in their legal briefs, expert witnesses are using it to support their opinions, and courts are citing the source either tangentially or, even worse, as the primary legal basis for their opinions."

March 1, 2009

Comments

#1 David Crowley commented, on March 1, 2009 at 4:31 p.m.:

The raison d'etre of quangoes such as the Irish Refugees Council is to facilitate claims by applicants for asylum. In many instances, these claims have been shown to be fraudulent and an abuse of process.

Consequently, people are highly skeptical of these bodies and legitimately question why Irish taxpayers money has to be used in dealing with dubious claims to asylum by what are often, in reality, economic migrants aided, as they are, by their shrill, and interested, support lobby.

In the current economic climate, hopefully, the government will have the courage and political will to closely examine expenditure in this area to see if we can get better value for our money, irrespective of what the pc culturalists advocate.

#2 Joe Moore commented, on March 1, 2009 at 10:47 p.m.:

The use of Wikipedia by the RAC goes some way in explaining why so many people seeking asylum here have their applications refused. Past cases need to be re-examined and anyone deported as a result should be allowed return.

#3 Robert Browne commented, on March 1, 2009 at 11:28 p.m.:

The question since the start of the "boom" that was never answered by our government was; Is the economy of Ireland there to serve the Irish people or are the people of Ireland mere grist to the economy?" Migrants were brought in by the tens of thousands, supposedly to build the boom. The argument was, that we did not have enough labour to keep up with the suicidal and tax driven celtic tiger boom.

Later, we were told, that we were depending on these emigrants to rent or purchase the very houses and apartments that they had helped construct. Now the reality is, that we have presently over 37,000 immigrants to Ireland signing on, who have no jobs and no prospect of jobs. They need dole and rent allowances to continue to rent the apartments and houses that they can now ill afford! That is something for the government with its short term policies to belatedly consider!

Who, in their right mind, would go back to countries where the minimum wages are scarcely over 2 Euro per hour. In other words, you would have to work a hundred hours to get the equivalent of one weeks Irish dole, never mind rent allowances and children's allowance payments, medical cards etc. What goes around comes around! Now, who is smart?

#4 Prawo Jazde commented, on March 2, 2009 at 11 a.m.:

Robert, don't you think that immigrants who came here legally, either on EU passports on on work permits, who actually worked to contribute to Irish GDP and paied taxes are fully entitled to those "dole and hosing benefits". You can argue that their entitlement should be proportionate to their tax and contribution, but you can't deny it. The article is not about these working immigrants. The article is about asylum seekers, this is a totally different story. Don't mix them. What you should ask yourself is whether Ireland can afford to stand to its international obligations to take that many aylum-seekers, or shall we admit that we can't take more and stop being hypocritical by trying to find excuses to send them home. Allowing asylum-seekers to remain is a purely humanitarian act, there is no benefit for the economy, it costs tax coffers and the government never tried to convience your otherwiese!

#5 Des commented, on March 2, 2009 at 6:21 p.m.:

Paid taxes are not deposit accounts that should allow ANY worker, legal or not, to feel an entitlement to social welfare, housing benefits etc. Indeed, since you brought up the point, many immigrants are saving vast percentages of their salary to send home to their own country thus depriving the Irish revenue collectors of large chunks of VAT and other taxes that a person who would otherwise truly live here would spend.
Also, many “legal” migrants are not paying tax as they are outside the tax brackets and on minimum wage. Many of these same migrants are also availing of free education for their young families. The tax they pay would not cover this cost in 20 years.
The time has come to encourage our migrants, legal or not, to return home and not take a job that an Irish person is rightly entitled to.

#6 N. American commented, on March 2, 2009 at 10:01 p.m.:

Prawo - nearly right. But of course asylum seekers & refugees contribute to the economy.

My mom's family came to the US, stayed one night in a shelter, then went to work. Learned English. Paid taxes. Gained admittance to university. Went to church. Gave to the community. Became American citizens.

Farmer, carpenter, factory worker, schoolteacher, engineer. Next generation includes an engineer, plant manager, accountant, lawyer. 60 years on, not one of us has ever been a day on the dole, and the only social assistance we've taken since that first night is well-earned pension payments.

#7 Craig commented, on March 3, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.:

but a reality to consider: Most of asylum seekers in Ireland are fake! Most, and NOT, all of them have built their application on fake stories. Some of them who came from subsaharan Africa lie about their country of origin. Most of them have no ids. It s just a mess when u look at it! What I strongly advise is to deport all fake seekers and sort out the genuine applicants!

#8 Sean Killian, Swords commented, on March 3, 2009 at 12:14 p.m.:

Prawo, from Shane Coleman's article in the Opinion section: "A couple with one earner, with kids, can earn €32,000 without being liable for tax. Add in child benefit of around €11,000 a year for three children and it means you can have a de facto income of €43,000 without being liable for a cent in tax."
I believe a lot of immigrants fall into this category i.e. low paid and outside the tax collection process. So they do not contribute or pay tax. Not all, but most fall into this category. Also as stated in a previous post, most of this income is saved and taken out of this country. Hence, an immigrant is way less beneficial to the Irish economy than an Irish worker.

#9 Deirdre commented, on March 3, 2009 at 1:44 p.m.:

Have to agree with Des. Approx 20% of those on the dole are EU (non irish) citizens.Those that have the relevant PRSI record here are entitled to dole and should get it but when that runs out they should not get means tested assistance. they should get help to return home. this would also save huge money in the primary schools as the crisis we had last sept in some area was due to the large no of non irish children. The education cuts would not hit so hard if these Children returned home with their parents. My daughter desparately needs some work to help her fund her college course but the part time jobs students normally get are filled with EU workers.Its hard not to feel bitter and with the registration fee €1500 from this sept and probably tuition fees at €5000 or more to come, I think many parents and students will increasingly resent EU workers here no matter how nice they may individually be.

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