Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Update on Direct Provision: The Ombudsman

Mr. Sean Garvey:

Yes, we have had complaints about people not getting access to the labour force but not to do with the centres. The Department of Justice labour market access unit is responsible for assessing applications to get labour force access. We had complaints in 2020 on that but, in fairness to the unit, we would have to say that the three complaints we dealt with were in the process of being looked at when we got the complaint. When we engaged with the Department, we were able to confirm that they were in train and, as it turned out, all three were subsequently granted. They were complaints from the residents' perspective about delays in granting access to the labour market and it was nothing to do with the centres. We have not had any complaints of that nature about any action by centres preventing people from accessing the labour market.