Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an important judgment by the Supreme Court. The Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and the Minister of State with direct responsibility in this area, Deputy David Stanton, have done a lot of work on this. Within the past month, before this judgment, they asked their officials to begin work to identify the options for and the barriers to asylum seekers gaining access to the labour market in particular circumstances. This judgment, therefore, gives this work increased priority. As the judgment has only just become available, as the Deputy is aware, the Department of Justice and Equality officials, together with the Office of the Attorney General, will examine it in the immediate future. It is important to note that the International Protection Act, which introduces the single application procedure for protection applicants, was brought through the Oireachtas by the Tánaiste and commenced on 30 December 2016. That is important legislation. The new Act is specifically designed to address the delays in decision-making on asylum claims. Since the beginning of the year, applications have already been decided with applicants having been recognised as refugees who can access the labour market now. Overall, 92% of the 173 recommendations in the McMahon report are now implemented or partially implemented, or are in progress. That is a significant increase on the figure of 80% in the first audit of progress, which was published last June. One hundred and twenty-one of the recommendations are now implemented, with a further 38 partially implemented or in progress. It includes the key recommendation of the working group, that is, the one on the introduction of the single application procedure within our international protection process.

I do not have any difficulty at all in saying to the Deputy that the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, in particular, will be happy to engage with Opposition Members to discuss the outcome of the ruling of the Supreme Court. I expect that once officials from the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice and Equality have gone through the judgment in detail, the Minister of State will be very happy to have a discussion with Opposition Members and move on in the context of the findings of the Supreme Court.

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