This is a matter of important national significance and I need clarification from the Government of its collective intention on this matter.
On 9 January 1999 the Government announced that the Cabinet had given approval to the Tánaiste to bring forward proposals for legislation to give work permits to asylum seekers. Work permits for non-EU nationals currently operate on an administrative basis under the Aliens Act. I understood the new proposal was to put the work permit system on a statutory basis for the first time and to allow asylum seekers who had been in the State for six months the right to work, pending the determination of their application to stay in the State.
The benefits of the scheme were outlined at the time by the Tánaiste and by the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs. They identified the skills shortages in our economy, the potential to augment the skills base of the country and the social benefits that would accrue. However, rejecting that call on the same day, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was quoted in The Irish Times of the 9 January as stating that the State already attracted a disproportionate number of asylum seekers because of what he called the generous regime applied to them. The Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, was further quoted on the same day as saying that giving a right to work would simply create another pull factor, which would put further pressure on the asylum processing system and continue to delay recognition for genuine refugees in need of protection.
From the outset, there was clearly a very strong difference of view between the Tánaiste, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy O'Donnell and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It appears the strong divergence of opinion continued from January until last Monday's Cabinet meeting.
We understand from replies given by the Tánaiste on the Order of Business today that she brought draft heads of a Bill to Government during the day long meeting last Monday and that the Government was divided on the matter. According to Deputy O'Donnell, the division was not along party lines and a number of Fianna Fáil Ministers supported her and the Tánaiste in the provision of this important right.
We are all aware that there is a skills base available among talented people who have a right to apply for asylum. I believed there was a consensus in the House that they should be given the right to work. In my home town of Wexford, there is quite a number of asylum seekers because of the town's proximity to the port of Rosslare. When I last checked the figures on 12 February, some 83 non-nationals were living in the town. The biggest single group are Romanians, of whom there are 37, but there are also Kosovans, Lebanese, Bulgarians, Africans, Poles and Yemenese. All of these people have talents to offer and there are employers in Wexford, as there are throughout the country, who are anxious to employ them. Meanwhile, the asylum seekers are condemned to poverty and to being dependent on the State. The false impression that they are spongers who are ripping off the system is feeding racism. Many of us in this House have received correspondence of a racist nature.
It is important that we set matters right. In the first instance, it is important that the Government, which is clearly at sixes and sevens on this issue, states its policy clearly. The legislation is only at draft heads stage at the moment. According to the Tánaiste, it will be some weeks before they are approved so an optimistic view would be that the legislation would be passed before the end of the year. I hope the legislation will be passed quickly and that the Minister will support it. In the interim, I would like to see the current administrative arrangements being utilised to allow these good people to work, pending the determination of their asylum applications.
