The report of the interdepartmental working group on the integration of refugees in Ireland will form the basis for implementation of the commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to which the Deputy refers.
In November 1998 I established an interdepartmental working group to examine the best means of integrating recognised refugees and others granted permission to remain in Ireland. The group's report was launched on 10 February 2000 and I have welcomed its findings. The Government has accepted my recommendation that the report should form the framework for Government policy on refugee integration.
The report makes a number of recommendations and it is my intention that these will be implemented without delay. Progress has already been made. The introduction of a single organisational structure for co-ordinating and implementing integration policy is one of the key recommendations of the working group and last month the Government approved my proposals for an appropriate organisational structure. A statutory agency to be called the reception and integration agency is to be established under the aegis of my Department to plan and co-ordinate the provision of services for both asylum seekers and refugees. It will also co-ordinate implementation of integration policy for refugees and persons who, though not refugees, are granted leave to remain. Pending the enactment of legislation, the agency will operate on a non-statutory basis.