Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Justice and Equality and I spoke about this today. I am aware of the court judgment and it is the view of the Government that if somebody is waiting for a prolonged period of time for a decision as to whether he or she has the right to remain, he or she should be allowed to have the opportunity to work. These are people who wish to get up early in the morning to go to work and we currently do not allow them to do so under our laws. The reason it does not appear in the legislative programme is that we think we can resolve it without using primary legislation, but the Minister for Justice and Equality should be in a position to respond to the court's judgment in a matter of weeks.

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