Keelin Barry

Keelin Barry

Keelin Barry is an Irish Research Council (Government of Ireland) PhD Scholar based at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. Keelin attained a BSc (Hons) International Development and Food Policy at University College Cork in 2010; a Masters in Public Health in 2011 at University College Cork; and is a 2018 graduate of the Irish Centre for Human Rights LLM programme in Human Rights Law. 

Keelin’s research is interdisciplinary in approach with a socio-legal focus. Keelin’s research interest areas include refugee and asylum law, disability law, public health, gender, forced displacement and migration, human trafficking, minority rights, human rights law, global health and health inequalities, human rights in Palestine, international development, disability and older persons human rights, critical race theory, intersectionality and discrimination, humanitarian emergencies and disability, housing rights, and qualitative research. 

PhD Research Topic: Disability and caring in Direct Provision.

This international refugee law and disability law PhD research project examines the intesections of international and European refugee law, and international disability law. It specifically explores the material reception conditions of asylum seekers with disabilities, as well as asylum seekers who have experience of being carers while in the International Protection system in Ireland. This PhD research adopts a two track approach including first, a doctrinal legal analysis of two legal instruments-the Reception Conditions Directive 213/32/EU (RCD), and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The doctrinal analysis explores whether Ireland's transposition of the RCD Directive to (‘S.I 230/2018 European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018’), as well as the ratification of the UNCRPD, will strengthen the rights of disabled asylum seekers living in the Direct Provision system.

Supervisors: Professor Siobhán Mullally and Dr Maeve O’Rourke

Scholarship / funding awards information: Irish Research Council PhD Scholarship Award (4 years)

Link to online academic profile: 000-0002-4995-7829

Publications

Journal Articles (Peer reviewed)

  • ’Where is the vulnerability assessment tool? Disabled asylum seekers in Direct Provision in Ireland and the EU (Recast) Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU’ in Jolly, A.,Pomati, M.& Rees J (eds.) Social Policy Review 33Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2021. (Bristol University Press) pp.223-242.

Book Chapters (Peer reviewed)

  • 2020:‘Invisible: Disabled Child and Adult Asylum Seekers Living in Direct Provision’ in ‘O’Riordan, J.  and FitzGibbon M (eds), Direct Provision, Asylum, the Academy and Activism’ (2020; Lang Publishers, Germany). ISBN:978-1-78874-519-2. pp. 281-297.

Blog Posts and Opinion Editorials

Published Reports

Published Submissions to UN Bodies