Vol. 488 No. 7
369 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the survey or register of skills, if any, undertaken among asylum seekers to establish if there is potential to reduce labour shortages within some sectors of the economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7280/98]
No such survey has been carried out by my Department. The purpose of the asylum process is to establish if a person has a well-founded fear of persecution, not to address any labour needs of the State.
My priority is to expedite the processing of every application. In this way genuine refugees will be able to enter the labour force at the earliest possible date.
