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

Of course it is an issue for the Business Committee as to whether time is allowed for this, but perhaps I can clarify the position because there may be a misunderstanding. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, briefed Cabinet about this matter this morning. We are doing this in two steps and the first step is quite minimalist. It is only allowing asylum seekers who have been here for six to nine months to work, more or less on the same basis as somebody who is applying for a work permit, in addition to that access to self-employment. This is just a first step. We made a previous announcement some months ago that there would be much wider access to the labour market, including employment for positions that pay less than €30,000 a year. It has not been possible to do that, get the procedures in place and notify the European Commission that we are opting into the directive, so we are not going as far as we intend to go. We are doing this in two steps, namely, this rather minimalist step first and then the almost full access, which is what we committed to, and that will be done in June. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, can explain that in more detail but I just want to reassure the House that what is being done now is not the end of it. It is just the first step, and the second step will be much wider access to the labour market.

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