Results 1,481-1,500 of 6,188 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Governance and Child Protection Policy: Scouting Ireland (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Could we have a response from the chief executive?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I welcome Ms Logan and Professor Mullally. I attended some of Professor Mullally's human rights lectures some years ago and it is good to meet her again. Many of the questions have been asked. It is hard not to be sceptical of the Department of Justice and Equality on this issue. There has been an attempt to present this as a progressive step by the Department of Justice and Equality. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: To frame it another way, I do not think protecting the labour market should be the focus. Are there any other considerations that Government might put forward for restrictions outside of protecting the labour market sectorally and not in terms of time?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is beyond the scope of any statutory instrument or legislation. The Supreme Court decision struck down the absolute ban on the right of asylum seekers to work but my understanding is - I have not read it in its totality - it was not entirely unequivocal in terms of the right to work of asylum seekers. Is it an area the witnesses have a concern about? It is interpreting directives and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The question has already been asked by Deputy Daly. On the issue of the number of people who find themselves self-employed, which is a legitimate and reasonable choice for many people and could work for many people, anecdotally I have come across people from a wide range of backgrounds, not only migrant or asylum seeker backgrounds, and there is a very significant issue with regard to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: To put it in a slightly different way, if the Government was to legislate for the right to work in an effective way in a few months, and I would have doubts about that, would Ireland be legally compliant with the directive in every other respect? The spirit of the directive is perhaps a different matter but, legally, would we be in compliance with the directive if the effective right to work...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: To touch briefly on one of those points, the Irish Refugee Council raised previously the difficulty some asylum seekers have on readmission to direct provision centres. That would be related to the directive. They may be people who may have sought asylum without being in a direct provision centre or who are re-entering having lived somewhere else because they have no place else to go. As...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: In terms of an effective barrier to work outside the legislative issues, an example was given of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, card, which I understand the witnesses said is not a legal form of identification having regard to what is printed on that card. What is best way around that? Should the GNIB card be made a formal form of identification, or are there other forms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Could Ms Logan briefly give two or three more examples of practical issues, aside from the financial element, that create obstacles?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I have a final point, which follows on from a question posed by other members. On the basis of the witnesses' comments regarding the Department of Justice and Equality's concern about the possibility of a pull factor in terms of the directive, is it fair to say that is misplaced and overestimated?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Very good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes. I thank the witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is very frustrating but we need to discuss in private session how we escalate this, maybe by writing to the Minister. It needs to be escalated and the committee has a responsibility to address this. It should be done through primary legislation. The restriction existed in primary legislation such as the International Protection Act 2015 and others before it. If the Government deals...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: As I anticipated, there is a wide range of areas contained in the directive, minimum protections and so on. Do any of those areas require legislative action? Some are resource based, some administrative. Do any of those require additional legislative work aside from providing for the right to work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It seems to me that the Irish Refugee Council's understanding is that whether it is a statutory instrument or primary legislation there should be a legal basis for a vulnerability assessment, not just that it is done in practice and the resources are put in place. There has to be a statement somewhere in Irish law, whether in regulation or statute, that every asylum seeker is entitled to a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Before I move off that topic, are there other specific aspects the witnesses want to flag that will require explicit statements in Irish law?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Very well. I thank the witness. One of the other questions I asked of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission was this. Take the example of the restriction on the right to ID, specifically in relation to the right to work, what would be the best approach to deal with that, in the witnesses' view?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The witness mentioned people who might be refused readmission to the direct provision centres. There might be a right to appeal under the directive. To whom would that right of appeal lie?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: To whom should it appropriately lie?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to the Labour Market for International Protection Applicants: Discussion (9 May 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Is there any possibility that there is no existing body of the State that would be suitable or appropriate for this?