I thank the Minister of State for taking the trouble to attend the House to respond to this matter. Last Saturday, 2,000 applicants for asylum status were force to queue in the rain for periods of four hours to renew their identity cards at the headquarters of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This is unacceptable. It is not good enough to keep any customer or individual waiting for that period.
I am unable to accept that this matter could not have been handled better by means of a small amount of planning and thought. Why could the Department not have staggered the registration process of these asylum seekers over a longer period? Why could the applicants not have been grouped so that they could be taken in slots of 50 or 100 at various stages over the weekend? Why could it not have learned from the Department of Foreign Affairs which, a few years ago, produced an effective way of tackling the large numbers of people queueing for passports at the peak of the tourism season? That problem appears to have been tackled effectively.
I doubt if this treatment would be accepted or tolerated if Irish people were exposed to it. The refugees must have felt completely humiliated last Saturday. Their experience must have been made worse by the fact that they had to queue in the rain and that people took photographs of them in their misery. I am sure people would be appalled if Irish men or women were subjected to this type of treatment in another country.
The events last Saturday are another example of the ineffective manner in which the refugee problem is being handled. The Department appears unable to cope with the increased number of people seeking refugee or asylum status. I understand that approximately 60 cases a year were handled up to 1994 but in excess of 2,000 people are seeking asylum status at this point. It is important procedures are put in place now to allow quick decisions to be reached in relation to these applicants. It is wrong to keep asylum seekers in a state of uncertainty for prolonged periods. It is also costly in terms of expenditure by the social services.
The events of last Saturday are contrary to the objectives of the strategic management initiative for the Civil Service. They are in total conflict with the aims of the SMI which has been in place for the past few years and is designed to achieve the delivery of an improved quality service to the public. They make a mockery of the sentiments expressed by the previous Taoiseach, Deputy John Bruton, in the foreword to the latest SMI report. I was encouraged by the remarks of the Taoiseach, Deputy Ahern, during today's Order of Business when he expressed his concern about the events on Saturday. I hope his comments will trigger an appropriate response.
The refugee problem has been allowed to fester for more than a year. It was a major issue during the last general election for Deputies representing Dublin city centre constituencies. It is time the problem was properly addressed through engaging sufficient and competent staff to process the backlog and attend to new applications in an efficient and speedy manner. Approximately 90 per cent of the people who arrive in Ireland seeking asylum status will not be granted it. This has been the experience to date in Ireland and also internationally. It is most important that plans are made to deal effectively with applications as speedily as possible. The current position is grossly unfair to people who will be accorded asylum status. It is also unfair to those who will not qualify because they are kept waiting excessively long periods. In addition, it is unfair to the overworked and under resourced staff of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform who appear to find the entire process difficult to handle at present.