Mr. Nick Henderson:

In fairness to the Government, the Minister for Justice and Equality said when he appeared before this committee in January that would not be the case. He did not say that would happen and said that he would consider it in a more enlightened way. In our policy paper of last July we strongly recommended that not be the case because that would put people in a very difficult situation. It will take time for people to accumulate the resources to even begin to think of moving out of direct provision, bearing in mind they have an allowance of €21.60 and in self-employment will be able to pursue only low paying part-time work. It will be difficult for people to get the resources to move on and out, even to travel to view housing, pay for a deposit and then be able to take the step of moving out with their family, if they have one.