Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Aontaíom le cuid mhaith a bhfuil ráite ag na Seanadóirí eile roimh mé. This really is a heartless and cynical move by the Department of Justice and Equality. We held a direct provision protest in Galway on Saturday. Several brave people who are in direct provision and who are afraid to speak out normally, spoke out publicly. They told us again of their plight within the direct provision system. To say they are disappointed with this news would be a major understatement. They are absolutely devastated. Following the Supreme Court ruling, they believed there was a chink of light at the end of the tunnel for them and their plight. Some of them have been in direct provision centres for ten or 12 years. Their lives have been put on hold unfairly. They have not been allowed to update their qualifications or show example to their children by going out to work and providing a living for their families. They are absolutely devastated.

Representations have been made to us by several organisations. Possibly the most pertinent today are the representations from the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland. MASI said that this move, if it is allowed to pass through the Houses – I hope it is not – will impose impossible restrictions on access to work by asylum seekers. MASI said the Government has not given any detail of what the right to work will look like once the opt-in to the directive is complete. In the meantime, MASI says, the Government's proposed interim measures are punitive to say the least. Under the proposal, asylum seekers will be limited to jobs that pay over €30,000. They will be barred from over 60 occupations, including most trades, many care worker and health care professions as well as the construction, retail, domestic work, hospitality and many other sectors.

Let us reflect on that. We are crying out for nurses and health care workers. I have met many qualified people within the direct provision system who could help in this regard, but we are blocking them from doing so. MASI says the list of restricted occupations is shocking and that, in addition, these proposals will require asylum seekers to somehow come up with €500 to €1,000 for a work permit.

My reading of the proposals suggests this is not really about the right to work but about the right not to work. It is about designing some measures to ensure that no one or very few within the direct provision system would have any chance whatsoever to qualify for the right to work. It is absolutely disgraceful.

MASI maintains that the interim measures mean few of the people seeking protection in Ireland will have the opportunity to earn their own living or support their families. However, that opportunity is really important to them. We can all go home. I can go home to my family and children. I have earned my wage or my crust and I can show example to my children. However, we are not allowing these people to do that. It is a basic fundamental human right but the Minister is blocking them from it. I appeal to the Minister at this stage to pull back from this measure and to implement the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment.

MASI maintains that this interim measure is a cynical box-ticking exercise that is already negatively affecting the lives and futures of living, breathing human beings. The brave Rohingya man who brought his case on the right to work to the Supreme Court would be barred from working under the Government's interim measures. That surely cannot be right. Perhaps the Minister can answer that question. Does the Minister think it is right that the man who was brave enough to go to the Supreme Court would himself be barred under this measure?

I welcome the comments from the Irish Refugee Council. The council says that channelling access to this right by the employment permit process is inappropriate and restrictive. The council also questions why two separate phases are necessary for the implementation of this right, especially since the Government has known of the Supreme Court decision since May 2017. I and other Senators have raised that question. We asked the Minister to bring forward proposals rather than leaving it until the last minute. What has he done? The Minister has left it until the last minute. Was that by design or default? My fear is that it was by design.

MASI notes that waiting times on asylum status determination in Ireland are at crisis point. Thousands of people have already waited for more than a year for an initial decision. The right to work should be retrospective and immediately available to people in this position. Why has the Minister not taken that position?

MASI says it is discouraging to still hear concerns about the right to work being a pull factor. To be honest, so many people believe that is the real motivating factor of the Department. MASI says that for the right to work to be truly effective, access to the labour market should be without restriction as far as possible. People should be given access to the labour market if they have waited six months for a decision. They should be free to work in any sector or be self-employed. This right should apply to new applicants and those to whom the transitional provisions of International Protection Act 2015 apply.

Senator Ó Ríordáin referenced the Irish abroad who are looking for the regularisation of their status. The big difference in this case, thanks be to God, is that most of them have not had to flee war-torn areas or persecution. The people in this system have had to do precisely that. That makes it a double injustice.

Doras Luimní has expressed disappointed in what was outlined by the Government. The organisation has recommended the following: access to the labour market be granted to people seeking asylum no later than six months after an initial application and that this should be retrospectively applied; no restrictions should be in place; the residents of direct provision centres should be able to retain accommodation in direct provision during any period of employment, if needed; and asylum seekers who have access to the labour market should have a right to claim social welfare payments.

MASI has expressed particular concern that what was introduced as an interim measure would end up being the permanent provision for asylum seekers accessing employment. We have a wonderful example in direct provision of what was to be a temporary measure but which is certainly temporary no longer. That really is the fear.

No Senator should support this measure. The Government should go back and bring in a proper measure in line with the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling. Such a measure should fully live up to the obligations under the right to work directive rather than what is being proposed. I appeal to all Senators in this regard.

I welcome comments from the Immigrant Council of Ireland. I do not have time to read those comments into the record but the council has been critical of the measure. All the organisations dealing with asylum seekers as well as asylum seekers themselves are calling on the Government not to bring in this measure as proposed. The Minister should go back and do the right thing. I call on all Senators to oppose it strongly in this House and I appeal to Deputies in the Dáil in this regard as well.