Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Yes, except such people have been in a situation often for a lot longer or simply have not had that opportunity. However, it is obviously a decision for the Government as to whether it will grant such people credits based on how long they had been in direct provision and denied the right to work.

Is it possible for the witnesses to provide members with the guidelines the Department gives to community welfare officers in respect of flexibility? I would be interested in seeing them because it seems to be a sort of moving goalpost or whatever is the expression as to how such flexibility is or is not granted. There also does not appear to be a great deal of consistency in the discretion that is given and it often appears to vary between individual community welfare officers. One community welfare officer may be much more flexible in applying the flexibility than others who might be highly inflexible and who will simply tell people that X is the rent allowance limit and they cannot breach it. If this is stated to people by a community welfare officer, I advise them to indicate that they wish to make a formal application in any event and to not accept a verbal refusal. I advise people to seek, in writing, the reason the community welfare officer is refusing them because the rents in question are what the rents are for any available properties in the area, of which there are very few. I suggest this in order that there will be a requirement on the community welfare officer to provide, in writing, the reason he or she refused somebody a breach on the allowance cap. If such a written reason is provided and people still cannot get accommodation, I advise them to submit a formal appeal. However, I wish to know what precisely is the instruction or memo that is passed on to community welfare officers in this area that leads to such a wide variety of responses from those officers in granting discretion in these cases. This is not just for asylum seekers but for anybody. Can the witnesses enlighten members?