Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have the briefing notes I received from the Irish Refugee Council. The Minister of State has not responded directly to its concern that trained and qualified civil servants are to be replaced by externally recruited personnel who may not receive adequate training. The council also raises concern about the powers of the Minister to revoke authorisations for international protection officers, IPOs, if a particular IPO is viewed as being too generous in his or her decision-making. As I understand it, this proposal opens up the possibility of the position being outsourced to be filled by people who are not qualified, the fear being that there will not be justice or proper consideration of applications for asylum. The Minister of State has not responded on the specific issue of the possible outsourcing and privatisation of these roles.

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