Call for earlier work for asylum-seekers

Asylum-seekers should be given the right to work sooner than they are at the moment, the Tanaiste has said.

Ms Harney, speaking at the opening of a FAS asylum-seekers' job unit in Dublin, said the Progressive Democrats would prefer to see asylum-seekers being granted work permits after six months in the State instead of one year, as at present. The new job unit at Coolmine will help asylum-seekers with a three-week English course as well as assessing their skills and preparing them for job interviews.

The unit is expected to help up to 2,500 asylum-seekers over the next two years.

A similar unit, opened in Tallaght earlier this year, has had a high success rate, according to Ms Marie-Terese Martin, of FAS. "About 94 per cent of those who have applied to the unit have secured work," she said.

FAS is contacted by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs when an asylum-seeker has been on its books for a year. Asylum-seekers do not have to attend the FAS course but, according to Ms Martin, those that do find it much easier to get work.

Welcoming the initiative, the Irish Refugee Council said the Tallaght unit had been "doing a good job within its remit". A spokesman said the right to work should be granted to asylum-seekers who had "been in the system for six months".

He also said the council would like to see asylum-seekers getting access to all FAS courses and that a mechanism should be introduced to give recognition to skills and qualifications earned abroad.