Ms Helen Lowry:

All of these conversations are happening in the absence of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill. We are without that overarching legislation, and that is probably why we are having some of the conversations we have had about immigration reform and single procedure. This scheme does not require legislation. There is a proposal to clear the backlog, and people in direct provision would be supportive of that. We see the two schemes as complementary, but what we are putting out there is more comprehensive. It is not just for certain types. It is the concept of being undocumented, and we are saying one of the primary criteria would be length of time in the State followed by a probationary period. We do not believe that would be confusing but the devil would be in the detail, and we can have that conversation if we get down to the fine detail of what it would look like in its roll-out and the implication it might or might not have for people with ongoing applications.

We believe the current review of direct provision is timely in that we are now almost two decades into inward migration from a humanitarian and an economic perspective, and we cannot afford to ignore these issues. It is timely and because it does not require legislation, it is an opportunity to examine it.