Vol. 491 No. 6
255 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the names of the officials who have been recruited by his Department for the processing of applications for asylum; the qualifications of each appointee; the training for the duties of each appointee; and the salary and conditions of employment for those appointed. [13101/98]
It is policy not to give the names of officials working in a particular area of the Department.
However, I can say that 25 retired public servants were recruited, from an advertised competition for this work, as part-time contractors on a daily fee basis. All other persons involved in the processing of applications are full-time civil servants having been either recruited directly through Civil Service Commission processes, redeployed from other areas of the Department and Civil Service or through internal promotions and assignments.
All staff working in the asylum division have completed appropriate training courses and have received on the job experience of interviews and assessments. The training programmes were agreed with UNHCR and delivered by a combination of my Department's own experienced personnel, UNHCR training specialists and the UNHCR's full-time official here.
