I am pleased to announce that agreement has been reached with the Legal Aid Board on arrangements for the provision of a comprehensive legal service for asylum seekers. The refugee legal service will be independent of the Department and will provide legal advice and representation for asylum seekers. It will assist asylum seekers in exercising their legal rights in all aspects of the Irish asylum procedure.
The new legal service will be based at the "one-stop-shop" centre for asylum seekers at Lower Mount Street. It is my intention that it will be available by end February 1999. The staff for the service will be provided from the existing staff of the board and new staff to be recruited specially for this service. The recruitment process will commence immediately and arrangements have been made for initial training to take place in the new year for all staff involved in the provision of this service. The refugee legal service will be ring fenced in terms of funding and resources from the existing law centre service and will not interfere with the existing commitments of the Legal Aid Board.
In relation to the granting of work permits, it must be borne in mind that asylum seekers only have temporary permission to remain in the State pending the determination of their applications. The Refugee Act, 1996, actually provides that asylum applicants "shall not seek or enter employment or carry on any business, trade or profession during the period before the final determination of his or her application.".