The Immigrant Council of Ireland has issued calls to all TDs to facilitate its Migrant – TDs Internship Scheme
The Scheme is a 12-week program for migrants and refugees who have already experience in Irish politics at a local level to introduce them to policy-making at a national level.
This follows on from the success of the ‘Opening Power to Diversity Scheme’ run by Crosscare with TDs and Senators from 2012 to 2015.
That particular Crosscare Scheme was part funded through the European Integration Fund, with funding of an average €20k per year, although this did not always cover the expenses of the interns.
An earlier iteration of the TDs Internship Scheme was the Councillor-Migrant Internship Scheme that was facilitated in conjunction with Forum Polonia.
The two key aims of the scheme are were to make a connection between local migrant communities and their local government and the promotion of diversity among politicians, the political establishment and society at large.
With respect to the TDs Internship Scheme, the Immigrant Council say that participating TDs will host an intern for one day a week (or the equivalent of 7 hours over a few days) for 8 weeks.
The interns will attend a 4-week course on Irish politics and the role of TDs before taking on the placement with transport and lunch expenses as well as childcare costs for single parents provided by the Immigrant Council.
Placements’ starting dates will be flexible to accommodate different work commitments and the Council aim to run most of the placements from early May to early July.
It is expected that the internship may include some of the following:
The Immigrant Council says that it relies on voluntary income from the public for 20% of its annual budget, including donations, fundraising and legacies, while the remaining 80% funding comes from grants for charitable activities from Irish and EU state and nonstate bodies.