Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not think that is their understanding, but it is very informative for a meeting I am due to have later. I will move on.

There were huge concerns about the quality of IPO 2 forms released in January 2017. A number of nationalities said someone had put them together using Google Translate and that they were completely wrong from a language point of view. The Minister told me in reply to parliamentary questions that the company involved had not been paid at the time and that any payment would reflect the poor quality of service in a number of languages in which the form had been published. Was the money withheld from the service provider by the IPO as a consequence of the problems with the forms it had translated? What proportion of the money was withheld? I presume the Department will not use the company again.

Immigration consultants have made an appearance in this area. We are told that a number of former GNIB officers have set themselves up as immigration consultants to advise undocumented person on how to have their status regularised. Some of them charge well above the odds and promote themselves as special insiders who can get someone in. That is a matter of concern. I have submitted parliamentary questions on it and the INIS has stated it is not its problem, that it is a private matter. It does not seem right that former immigration officers, gardaí, would make money in this way. Would it be prudent for the INIS to place a restriction on staff who have left from working as immigration consultants, at least until there is some regulation in the area? Is it something at which the INIS would look? Is our source correct in saying the INIS is not accepting applications from so-called "consultants"? Is the service aware of this general problem?