Mr. Brian Killoran:

I can speak a little to a couple of those points. The Deputy's point about local authorities is an interesting one. We do a lot of work with local authorities nationally on integration strategies. It is standard practice at European level and everywhere else that local government areas need a strategy through which to identify a framework, indicators, goals and funding for how they will co-ordinate services and engage them with health and other services, the private sector, NGOs, support organisations and community groups. It is quite a big thing but it can be quite fluffy. While integration strategies often focus on positive integration initiatives and community events, which are brilliant, a lot of this is about the nitty gritty of how one absorbs someone coming into the community, including someone who has spent five years in a direct provision centre which is a form of institutional living. We work very closely with some of the local authorities and urge them to build in any direct provision centre in their area as a strand of the local integration strategy in how they respond. While someone who comes from a direct provision situation may not decide to remain in the local community near the centre and may go to another city or town where there are relatives, local authorities need to consider that this might be part of it and that the person may need ongoing support, including specialised assistance around employment and health supports. The difficulty with integration strategies is that while local authorities are encouraged to have them, they are not required to have them. It is not mandated but is rather a recommendation of the national integration strategy. It is not a legislative requirement. One therefore gets a sporadic approach whereby local authorities like Fingal have invested huge resources into good and complex integration strategies over the past two years, while other local authorities are still at the starting point. Some are asking how to even start with an integration strategy. Often, the funding is an issue. Local authorities may say they have to use their funding instead for priority areas like housing, education and all the usual things. That comes back to the point about planning. Locating a centre in an area is not just a once-off action. It is something that will reverberate for years and it needs to be built into the infrastructure of that area. An integration strategy is a sure-fire way to look at that.

The Deputy asked about the right to work. It is worth pointing out that in Europe and Ireland so far, the tendency among asylum seekers who have a right to work is to enter self-employment due to the significant barriers they face in entering regular employment. While a large number of people have taken up the right to work in Ireland, it is unclear how many are in self-employment and how many are in actual employment. We hear from those contacting our services and from our integration work that bank accounts are a significant issue. However, some banks have started to figure out what one could call limited-function, high-risk bank accounts, both because they have been forced to do so by recent court decisions and because they recognise this is something they need to sort out in the long term. Accounts like this will deal with the issues banks face of identification and address, while allowing asylum seekers to access a function that will satisfy an employer and allow salary payments to be made. There is movement in that area and I think some of the banks will come out with initiatives to address the issue this year. While that is positive, it remains a significant problem at the moment.

We have worked with the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to figure out driving licences. We are batted back and forth between the two, each of which says the matter is the responsibility of the other. As of yet, there has been no resolution of that issue. Location is a significant issue. As Mr. O'Neill said, the private sector involvement and level of knowledge on the right to work of asylum seekers is incredibly low. We are trying to work with the employer agencies and bodies to spread information and we are a supporting partner in the Open Doors initiative. The initiative involves 22 large private employers operating special schemes around employing asylum seekers and refugees and is very important. While positive things are happening, significant gaps remain. Those are the two parts to which I can speak.