Business and religious bodies yesterday called for measures to make it easier for asylum-seekers to work. The measures would include allowing asylum-seekers to seek work after six months.
In addition, the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI) said those refused refugee status should be allowed to apply to stay as economic immigrants.
Moves to establish a Refugee Advisory Board - promised in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness - should be speeded up, the Justice Office of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) has said.
CORI said Government policies should recognise that a major migration of people from the poor south of the world to the affluent north has begun and could go on for decades. "It is scarcely tenable for Ireland or the EU to have a policy framework based on developing a fortress that cannot be entered by some of the world's most excluded people," a statement said.
The CCI said that given the scale of the demand for labour, workers will have to be sought from outside the State. A National Immigration Authority should be set up to ease the "fragmented and confusing" job of processing of applications for work permits, it said.
A "humane" policy on family reunion should be part of an immigration policy, and immigrants should not be expected to leave if there is an economic downturn, it said. Asylum-seekers should be allowed to participate in work training and in cultural integration programmes, it said. "Those whose applications are rejected may wish to then apply for work in Ireland as economic immigrants."
CORI said it will raise issues concerning asylum-seekers when the Government meets the social partners later this month.
email: pomorain@irish-times.ie
