The politics of navigating complaint: asylum seekers and disabled people challenging care deficits in Ireland

This article explores the dynamics and consequences of vocalising care deficits within neoliberal care configurations in Ireland. We illuminate how asylum seekers living within congregated settings of the international protection system articulated and challenged systemic care injustices during COVID-19, often defying threats of retaliation. We also foreground disabled people’s decision making around vocalising care deficits in support services, negotiating fears about the loss of service or erosion of interpersonal support relationships. Connecting both groups, we reveal how those who speak out can be marginalised or left to absorb institutional care failings and highlight the importance of collective activism in challenging care abuses.