Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section:

2.—The Minister shall, within the next three months, report on the direct provision scheme for asylum seekers; highlight the hardship it is causing that group, and report to Dáil Éireann on the implications of increasing it before the next budget.".

This amendment seeks a review by the Minister within three months of the direct provision scheme for asylum seekers. Asylum seekers receive €19.10 per week and €9.60 per week for children. Most children of asylum seekers attend school. The added expense of this is enormous, of which the Minister must have some understanding. The asylum process is lengthy. People who have been here for between five and eight years have visited my constituency office. If there is no recognition that €19.10 is not sufficient we need to review the length of the process or allow asylum seekers to work so that they can at least have the dignity of earning an income and lifting themselves out of dire poverty.

No doubt every Member of the House has dealt with asylum seekers and knows that their depression and loneliness are profound. A compassionate and humanitarian approach is required, whether by speeding up the process to 12 or 18 months or by providing for them to get a job, even part time, to earn their income.

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