www.jrs.ie

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic non-governmental organisation, founded in 1980. Its mission is to accompany, advocate and serve the cause of refugees and forcibly displaced persons worldwide.

JRS operates at national and regional levels, with the support of an international office in Rome.

JRS (Ireland) is a national office of the Jesuit Refugee Service. It is a response by the Irish Jesuit Province to the plight of forcibly displaced persons who seek refuge in Ireland and to most urgent needs of new communities in Ireland. It was established in 1996, with Frank Sammon SJ as the National Director from 1996 to 2006. Its role in the period 1996–2002 was principally in the areas of policy, individual advocacy, and support for other projects and organisations in the sector. In 2002, in partnership with the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, JRS (Ireland) obtained funding from the European Refugee Fund to set up an integration project, Community Links.

In August 2006, a fulltime Country Director, Eugene Quinn, was appointed to JRS Ireland. JRS Ireland is being established as a charitable trust with a Head Office in Limerick and a Regional Office in Dublin.

An article, Jesuit Refugee Service: The Challenge 25 Years On, by John Dardis SJ, Irish Jesuit Provincial and former Regional Director of JRS Europe, celebrates 25 years of the Jesuit Refugee Service and reflects on the challenges for the asylum system in Ireland.

www.jrs.ie