Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While it is possibly understandable that there are restrictions on accessing jobs in the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána, it is unfortunate that the Government has chosen to exclude asylum seekers from the public service. Many asylum seekers in this country are very skilled.

Those skills could possibly be lost to the State with a restriction of this nature. For example, emerging and accelerating global and regional shortages of health care professionals present a significant strategic risk to the effective functioning of the health system. This is a lost opportunity to help to address those shortages. It could have helped to provide a mechanism to achieve better value for money compared with the use of agency workers.

The decision made in May 2017 to strike down the absolute ban on asylum seekers working as unconstitutional has forced the Government to finally address the need for reform of the direct provision system. The Minister mentioned the waiting time for a decision on an application for asylum, but it is still too long. It also takes too long to hear an appeal. Does the Minister have any comment to make on it?

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