The Family Reunion campaign group is made up of people who are living and working in Ireland without their families. They are campaigning for the basic right of having their immediate family with them here. We believe that families belong together and that nobody should have to choose between providing for their family and actually being with them.
Families Belong Together
Background
We all need our families around us. Everyone deserves to have their family with them when coming to work and live in Ireland. People who come to Ireland to work are doing essential jobs like looking after older people, picking, packing and cooking food, driving buses and building houses. They deserve to have their families here with them.
Right now, thousands of people are being forced to live apart from their families for years on end because of an unfair family reunion system. People are being denied their basic right to have their family with them, because they don’t earn a high enough salary or because of the type of job they have.
Relationships are being torn apart, families are missing milestones, people are missing out on being a parent, children are missing out on having their parents for love, support and guidance.
What we are calling for
The Family Reunion Campaign is calling for all full-time workers to be able to have their family with them from the start. We are campaigning for the Department of Justice to remove the barriers that are keeping families apart. Scrap the salary check. Scrap the waiting period. People can’t wait.
These two simple changes mean that families and loved ones are together from the beginning, can spend quality time together, children can grow up with their parents and families can live their lives together. We can have a country where all people are able to live with their families – their partners, spouses, or children – without delay.
What’s happening now
This campaign has an active community of over 500 members, including a group of over 20 people who meet regularly to plan actions and make key decisions about the campaign.
Our campaign has been very active in recent months. Our actions have secured lots of positive media coverage and reached the Minister for Justice directly. In May we held our largest action to date, a huge protest outside the Department of Justice calling for families to be reunited immediately.
The Department have heard our calls and are currently reviewing the family reunion policy. We are planning to build on recent successes by ramping up our campaign with more actions and events in the near future.
If you’re directly impacted by the family reunion rules and want to get involved, then make sure you join the community.
