Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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93. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the Government's ongoing rationale for preventing persons in direct provision from working in gainful employment. [7734/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Section 16(3)(b) of the International Protection Act 2015, provides that applicants for international protection shall not seek, enter or be in employment or engage for gain in any business, trade or profession during the period before the final determination of their application.

There is an effective visa and immigration system in place for those who wish to lawfully migrate to the State for employment purposes. The key concern in this regard is that both the asylum process and the wider immigration system would be undermined by giving people who secure entry to the State, on foot of claims to asylum yet to be determined, the same access to employment as legal immigrants who follow the lawful route to employment.

The International Protection Act, commenced on the 31 December, 2016, provides for the introduction of a single application procedure for international protection, which is specifically aimed at addressing the length of time persons spend in the protection process. The new procedure will streamline and speed up the processing of protection applications, allowing all relevant matters to be submitted at the time of application for consideration. This will significantly reduce the length of time that persons spend awaiting a decision on their protection application. This will bring certainty of status at a much earlier stage to qualified applicants. Any applicant subsequently granted refugee status is entitled to enter the labour market.