Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was there. People in Scariff are hospitable and few would remind the Taoiseach of that. They are generally kind and forgiving people. Tayeb quite likes it there but there is no university in Scariff. He has been offered a place in UCD which he wants to take up. He wants to get on with his life. He applied for asylum on 5 January along with his parents. He made his way from Gaza to Egypt and from Egypt to Ireland. He has asked if he can transfer accommodation to Dublin so he can attend university, where he has been offered a place. He has been told "No". However, in the event he can finance private accommodation, they will keep his place in Scariff so he can go back on holidays. That indicates they are willing to spend money to accommodate him in Scariff where there is no university, but not in Dublin where there is. He wants to get on in life, contribute and work.

Six months after you apply for asylum, you have a right to work in Ireland. Six months is set out because it is accepted you should have an asylum claim processed in that time. His asylum claim has not been processed and will not be processed in that time because our times are painfully slow. We say the new migration pact will be a magic bullet but there is nothing preventing the Department from speeding up processing times already. However, it has not done so, as the Taoiseach well knows, having been a Minister in the Department.

He applied for a work permit but has not received a reply to that either. He is effectively a burden on the Irish State but he wants to work, go to college and get on with his life. So do the vast majority of people who come to Ireland but they are not being processed quickly.

While the Government at a macro level is keen to be seen to be doing the right thing around asylum and around Palestine, when it comes back to the individual it is utterly dysfunctional. It does not work. Why is it taking so long to process asylum claims? When Syrians came to Ireland, a specific scheme was set up so their applications could be expedited. For the very few Palestinians coming to Ireland, what is being done? It is all well and good to engage in international diplomacy about recognising a state but how about recognising the humanity of an applicant who has had family members die, who has come here from Palestine and who wants to get on with his life and contribute to the society in which he finds himself?

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