Mr. Brian Merriman:

Since 30 June we have opted in on time to the recast reception conditions directive, which has brought about a fundamental change in where we provide supports directly to people in the protection process. On the labour market side, we have open access to the labour market with minimum restrictions for anybody who has been waiting for a first instance decision for nine months or more. With regard to the first instance decision, previously it was just a refugee decision but now it is a refugee and subsidiary protection decision. If one has not had a determination on one's refugee or subsidiary protection application, one will have open and generous access to the labour market, including self-employment. We are one of the few countries in the EU to allow that. We have allowed for access to self-employment since 9 February last.

To make a comparison, there is a requirement in Sweden to prove one's identity. Many applicants have difficulties with that due to the countries they come from or they will not have arrived in the country with their identity documents. They cannot work in sectors that require certified skills so they can only work in low skill employment. That is the case in Sweden. In France, the person gets access to the labour market after nine months. However, the applications are generally processed within seven months, which means nobody accesses the labour market there. One must also have proof of a job offer. In Germany, one gets access after three months but one must stay in a reception centre - we have no such requirement - and the possibility of a 24-month obligation has been provided for and was applied recently in Bavaria. The applicants cannot access self-employment. In Denmark, applicants are housed in asylum centres. There is no such requirement here. They can only work in those centres for the first six months and they have no access to self-employment. In Britain, access is provided after 12 months but essentially they can only apply for vacancies in listed shortage occupations. The Irish access to the labour force is much broader than in those mainstream countries.

We are getting applications for the permission, which will last for six months and is renewable. It is renewable even if the applicant is under appeal. The Deputy spoke about people being in the process for many years. Most of those, if not all, will have failed at the first instance within the first three years. The reason they are there longer than that is that they are using either the appeals process or they are caught up in judicial reviews or the like. Anybody who does not get a first instance application decision within nine months, regardless of the time the appeals process or judicial review process takes, will still have that permission renewed every six months under our process.

Opting in to the recast reception conditions has fundamentally changed what we have known as direct provision in Ireland. Direct provision is not just accommodation centres but a range of services. We have a rights-based service so that when people apply for our protection they get a right to free education at primary and secondary level, for example, and the right to a medical card. That is not the case in some other countries, but it is part of the direct provision system. People went into the accommodation centres at the beginning of a process which could be quite lengthy, especially under the old system.

They will now have the means to get out of the centres if they get into employment and to provide for the kind of lifestyles that they want to provide for themselves. It is most important to also state that in the very modest area of charging people who want to remain in the accommodation centres while they are at work, there will be no charges for children at all and the children's DP allowance will still be paid to them. Our approach in not limited on the right to work. The Supreme Court case found that in the absence of a temporal limit, we should give a right to work. We could have set a temporal limit but we took the opportunity to opt in to the recast reception conditions directive, with the permission of the Oireachtas. That places the accommodation centres on a statutory basis and they are subject now to inspection under the EU. We have also brought in a further appeals system in order that people can appeal their reception conditions; if it is their view that their material reception conditions are being negatively affected, they can go to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal. Compared to the old system where people landed here and waited for many years without means to change their lives or provide for themselves, coupled with all the reforms we brought in under the McMahon recommendations, opting into the directive has fundamentally changed direct provision and there are now many more opportunities for people awaiting a final determination to take control and be more independent in the way they live in Ireland.