Seanad debates
Tuesday, 4 February 2003
Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage.
I commend the Government amendments to the House. They are not draconian but reasonable. Fifteen working days amount to three calendar weeks, which is plenty of time for an applicant to address the matter. One should bear in mind that, in many cases, the person involved will have abandoned the address where her or she was supposed to be. If the abandonment goes beyond three weeks something very strange is happening because one of the conditions upon which one claims asylum is that one remains in direct provision accommodation. I cannot imagine circumstances in which there are reasonable grounds for an applicant's moving away for three weeks.
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