Mr. Bulelani Mfaco:

It is still difficult for many people who have been in direct provision for a long time. When they introduced the labour market access permit, it was only to be issued to people who had been awaiting a first instance decision for about nine months. That immediately excluded many people who already had decisions and were on appeal. We know that there are people who go through an appeal for years and years. We had one lady who went through an appeal for about eight years before she was granted refugee status. In that time, she was unable to work although she had a legitimate claim to asylum. They botched the initial decision at the IPO. We have many people in that situation in direct provision who are not legally allowed to work and cannot work until they have a final decision under the current arrangements. There are also a lot of restrictions in respect of the permit itself. It is a piece of paper. Ordinarily, when employers in Ireland are hiring people to work for them, especially non-EU nationals, they look for an Irish residency permit card or the old Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, card.

Asylum seekers do not have that and cannot even get a driving licence because they do not have the Irish residency permit card. One of the recommendations we will be making to the committee is that the temporary residency card, the blue card that is issued, should be replaced because it is of no use to an asylum seeker except to inform a police or immigration officer that they have permission to stay in Ireland. They cannot use it for work. If one brings asylum seekers in line with other non-EU nationals resident in Ireland, one is able to immediately inform the potential employer that this person has the right to work. They do not have to go through all the other administrative areas, such as having to submit reports. They are told right on the front page of the permit that it is a criminal offence not to provide this report, if one is required provide a report within ten days. That is a deterrent to any employer.

I have personally gone through that process of having to explain to employers that the permit is renewable, but many employers do not accept that and have informed me that the permit should be valid for at least 11 months, and they will not accept it if it is valid only for six months. People can stay in the asylum system for longer than a year waiting for an interview and for their asylum claim to be assessed. The idea of having the permit valid for only six months does not make much sense for a person who is going to be stuck in the system in any event. It would be better for us to have it valid for at least 12 months because we know it takes longer for the Department of Justice and Equality to make a decision.

By September 2018 the Department had issued over 1,500 permits, and only approximately 330 people were able to find work. When people find work, they have to send their declaration to the Department of Justice and Equality. That highlights the restrictions. I have had the permit since 1 August 2018 and I have only worked for one hour since then. All the employers that I have previously worked for in the Republic under different permits have not hired me because of the restrictions of the permit itself. It is not that I do not meet their requirement, because I have had those three jobs before and I have done them well. I have friends who would substantiate that. It becomes very restrictive for people. It discourages others who are already in the system who qualify for the permits. Many people do not apply for it because they see people who have it who are not working. There are hoops that one has to jump through as to how the permit works which have to be explained to an employer, because many employers do not know how it works. It is different. Everybody else goes in with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, or an Irish residency permit card or an EU passport and we do not have any of those things.

It is restrictive in that sense. Many people will still be stuck in direct provision without this right to work and our recommendation to address that is for people to be given immediate access to the labour market when they arrive in the State because it increases the prospects of integration. It means a person is not going to be staying idle in a direct provision centre that is in a remote area like Knockalisheen, or Mount Trenchard in Foynes, where they have no access to public transport, for example. That is another barrier for people who want to work. Once one has a job, it may be actually difficult to get to work if one lives in a direct provision centre that does not have any access to public transport.