Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Deputy's genuine interest in the matter but he is mistaken on one issue. The last Bill was published in 2010, at which time I was Opposition spokesperson. It was the third Bill in this area and despite that it was a much better Bill than its predecessor there were still very substantial defects in it. Deputy Rabbitte, who was then Labour Party spokesperson on justice, and I tabled substantial amendments to the Bill on Committee Stage. On taking up office as Minister for Justice, Equality and Minister for Defence I had the Bill as previously published reviewed. More than 300 amendments were required. It was decided that rather than retabling the old Bill a new Bill incorporating all the necessary changes would be published. I had hoped the Bill would have been published sooner but because of the priority which the troika required that we give to other legislation, personnel were not available within the Attorney General's office to do the necessary work. I am assured that work on the Bill is now taking place and that it will be published during the course of the year. It is my objective to have it enacted before the end of the year. It will do exactly what the Deputy says in that there will be a one-stop decision system where all applications can be dealt with. It is designed to facilitate applications being dealt with quicker.

On the direct provision issue, substantial sums of money have been spent by the State on direct provision. The alternative to direct provision would be the provision by the State of individual housing for every asylum applicant.

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