Length of time spent in Ireland’s Direct Provision accommodation system, the threat of deportation and the asylum-seeker’s ability to think about voluntary return.

This article draws on data from a recent research project conducted among asylum-seekers living in 14 of Ireland’s Direct Provision accommodation centres. This research was commissioned by the International Organization for Migration mission to Ireland (IOM Dublin) and was designed to explore how asylum seekers who are currently residents in Ireland’s Direct Provision system engage with the idea of assisted voluntary return to their countries of origin – an option offered to asylum-seekers who are currently residents in Ireland, as long as they are not already in receipt of a deportation order and favoured by successive Irish Governments as a cost-effective alternative to forced repatriation.