Carceralities and Approved Gender Violence: The Case of Direct Provision in Ireland

Abstract

In this article, we argue that Direct Provision in Ireland is a state approved form of gendered carcerality which creates and exacerbates conditions of gendered violence. Direct Provision is a system of processing asylum seekers in Ireland where they are temporarily provided accommodation while they wait for a decision on their refugee status claim. This article shows how carceral practices are layered and gendered, making some spaces and bodies more carceral than others. These carceralities increase the institutional burden which agglomerates in human bodies and makes the lives of an already precarious population unliveable. Through a review of the strategies adopted by the government in relation to migrants, undocumented workers and asylum seekers, this article shows how the gendered experiences of certain asylum seekers like mothers and sexual violence survivors become the political site where state approved carceral practices and gendered violence merge.