In an Irish Times article by Michael O'Regan the HSE is is accused of 'failing' in caring for asylum seeking children.  An independent investigation into Health Service Executive accommodation for unaccompanied children seeking asylum was called for by delegates to the Fine Gael ardfheis.

The Guardian newspaper in London has released a short six-minute film documenting the situation of a number of failed asylum seekers in the UK. The film looks at how these migrants survive after they have had their asylum requests refused.

On 17 February the European Court of Justice ruled that an "applicant for subsidiary protection does not necessarily have to prove that he is specifically targeted in his country of origin by reason of factors particular to his circumstances."

A joint initiative between JRS Ireland and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for asylum seekers who are residents in Mount Trenchard, Foynes commenced with a Soccer Open Day on the 19th February 2009.

DUBLIN, Ireland, February 5 (UNHCR) – The Irish government has pledged to continue its substantial financial support for the UN refugee agency under an accord signed with High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.

On 23 January, the refugee organisations of Tavolo Asilo, including JRS Italy, Amnesty International and Save the Children among others, urged the minister for home affairs, Roberto Maroni, to suspend immediately the new policies applied to refugees and migrants arriving in Lampedusa Island.

At the beginning of 2009 JRS-Europe and its project partners will begin a new project that will research the conditions of detention for vulnerable asylum seekers in the EU, known as the "DEVAS Project." It is partly funded by the EU Commission and will be implemented in 23 EU Member States.

Both JRS Ireland and Belvedere College received visits on 5th December from representatives of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD is currently conducting a thematic review of migrant education provision in Europe.

JRS Ireland would like to thank everyone that donated to this year's Christmas Toy Appeal.  We collected toys for more than 140 children of migrants and asylum seekers.  All of the gifts were delivered to direct provision centres on Friday 19th December,

The Jesuit Mission Office works hard to raise funds for a variety of projects in different parts of the world, and recently Murt Curry and his colleagues in the office were rewarded. Four more projects were approved by Misean Cara, bringing the total project money approved in 2008 to 560,000 euro.