Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I wish to raise a number of broad-ranging issues. If I do not get an opportunity to raise them before my priority question comes up in the Dáil, I hope to come back and do more at the end of the meeting.

On the issue of the right to work and the reception conditions directive, the Minister is confident that we will meet the deadline 17 days from now. I am not sure that will happen, but I hope he is correct. A number of matters flow from that. Is the Department concerned that, in the interim, it has been working in flagrant breach of the Supreme Court decision by, in effect, putting in place the temporary arrangement in a manner which has denied asylum seekers access to a right to work in everything but name? Was there concern about that temporary arrangement being in flagrant breach of the Supreme Court judgment? The Minister indicated that there will be much fuller access at the end of the month when the new arrangements come into play but can he inform us in more detail on the situation?

Will the final scheme do anything to address the fact that the hurdles which employers must traverse in order to get what might be temporary permission for asylum seekers to work are so high that in many cases they will not bother making that jump? I would be particularly interested to hear whether he could address the point made to the committee at the beginning of May by the Irish Refugee Council, namely, that despite its efforts to liaise with the Department on how the directive is designed, it has been ignored. Has the position in that regard been rectified? Is the Department on a solo run or has it engaged with the civil society groups? It had not done so up to May? What assurance can the Minister provide in terms of the right to work? Will he provide details of what is involved?