Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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18. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she is in favour of permitting asylum seekers to work while their applications for asylum are being assessed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27057/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Section 9(4)(b) of the Refugee Act 1996 provides that applicants for international protection shall not seek or enter employment or carry on any business, trade or profession during the period before the final determination of their application.

The Report of the Working Group on the Protection Process which was published on 30 June, 2015 includes a recommendation on access to the labour market for protection applicants. The Report, acknowledging government policy in this area, does not recommend any immediate right to work. It does, however, recommend that provision for access to the labour market for protection applicants, who are awaiting a first instance decision for nine months or more (in line with the recast Reception Directive) and who have cooperated with the protection process (under the relevant statutory provisions), should be included in the International Protection Bill and should be commenced when the single application procedure is operating efficiently.

This recommendation takes account of the fact that, under the current statutory arrangements, first instance decisions in respect of refugee status and subsidiary protection do not, in the normal course, issue within nine months at present.

A key concern with regard to granting protection applicants the right to work is that both the asylum process and the wider immigration system could be undermined by giving persons who secure entry to the State, on foot of claims to asylum, the same access to employment as immigrants who follow the appropriate pre-entry route to obtain employment in the State. There is an effective immigration and visa system in place for those who wish to migrate to the State for employment purposes. Any change of policy in relation to access to the labour market by protection applicants would also need to have regard to the large number of people currently unemployed in the State.

It should also be borne in mind that while access to the labour market is permitted in other Member States, it is often the case that this is very restricted with access to only certain labour market sectors and often only after specific periods of time have elapsed. In addition, access may be subject to labour market tests having been met.

The recommendations of the Working Group and their implications will be carefully considered by Government in the coming period.