Aoife Collins
Before
coming to the Irish Centre for Migration Studies, Aoife Collins worked with
NASC, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, Kerry Action for Development
Education, Partnership Tra Li and Kerry Education Service - the VEC in Kerry.
During the past few years she has been working on the following projects and
publications, most of which have focussed on refugee and asylum issues:
- Her current work
involves co-ordinating and reporting on a series of research study visits to
other EU countries as part of the Southern Integrated Research Partnership
(SIRP). SIRP brings together Cork City Council, Cork County Development Board,
the Southern Health Board, Cork City Partnership, FAS, The Department of Social
and Family Affairs, City of Cork VEC, NASC, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre
and the Irish Centre for Migration Studies, UCC. The aims of the Southern
Integrated Research Partnership are to carry out:
- A profile of non asylum-seeking immigrants in Cork City and County
- A Service analysis of the voluntary and statutory Sector in the city
and county
- European desk research and European
study visits to explore best practice in the integration of, and service
provision for, asylum seekers and immigrants in other EU member states and to
make recommendations where such models may be relevant to the local context.
- On behalf of
NASC, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, Aoife researched and wrote a report
entitled: The Needs of Asylum Seekers in Cork (2002) which was
part-funded by Cork City Partnership. This research looked at the needs and
experiences of newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees in Cork city. It
covered a wide variety of needs, including information, language, health,
education, work and welfare needs. The research process gave immigrants an
opportunity to discuss their needs and experiences in Cork, and to make
suggestions as to what actions they felt would help meet their needs more
effectively. The outcomes of the
research were: A profile of the asylum seeking and refugee community in Cork
city; An assessment and analysis of the needs of asylum seekers and refugees in
Cork city; An assessment of the services of NASC, from the point of view of
service users, and a series of
practical recommendations aimed at service providers in a variety of fields.
During her time at NASC, Aoife also worked with
immigrants as part of drop-in service. She provided visitors to NASC with
information about NASC and its services, and also how to access various other
organisations and services available to asylum seekers and other immigrants in
Cork city. This included providing information and support in relation to the
different stages of the asylum process.
- Aoife Collins has also worked for Kerry Action for Development Education
(KADE), Tralee, for whom she carried out some development education and asylum
training work, and also undertook two research projects. One research project
was entitled Local Issues with Global Connections: The Relevance of Refugee
Issues to Local Authorities in County Kerry (2001). This research was
funded by the Combat Poverty Agency and aimed to look at ways in which local
government in Kerry can become more informed of the global dimensions to issues
pertaining to refugees and asylum seekers, and inform local government on the development
of local strategies to combat discrimination, social exclusion and poverty
experienced by refugees and asylum seekers in Kerry. The second publication was
an assessment of the needs of asylum seekers and refugees in Tralee entitled: Meeting the Needs of Asylum Seekers in Tralee (2001). This research was commissioned by
Partnership Trá Li Ltd and a one-day seminar on this subject was held in Tralee
to mark its publication in early 2001.
Through these various
research projects Aoife Collins has gained a lot of familiarisation with local
government structures as well as the community and voluntary sector structures
in Ireland.
- During this
time, Aoife worked with a Media, PR and Communications company in Tralee and as
part of this work she developed and presented
communications skills training courses, worked on developing media skills
training programmes, assisted with the production of various radio series' and
assisted with publicity work on behalf of a number of organisations including
Kerry Education Service (the VEC in Kerry) and the Instititute of Technology
Tralee.
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