The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, defended his Department's handling of the accommodation issue for asylum-seekers, saying that the numbers applying for asylum daily were such that only very short notice could be given to local communities housing them. Speaking at a conference in UCC he said: "My situation is clear, and has been clear from the beginning. We have tried to consult in so far as we could with local communities, but it's very very difficult to give the local communities as much information as they might require in a very short space of time because we're faced with people seeking emergency accommodation on a daily basis."
He explained that "on the Tuesday following the Easter bank holiday weekend, we had 175 applicants. It's not easy to find accommodation just like that for 175 applicants". The alternative to finding accommodation quickly was to let asylum-seekers sleep on the streets, "and no one wants that".
Afterwards, speaking to reporters, Mr O'Donoghue rejected claims by the Independent Kerry South TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, that there are currently 80,000 asylum-seekers in the State. The approximate number of asylum-seekers was "of the order of 12,000", said the Minister, who refused to be drawn on whether he considered Mr Healy-Rae's comments irresponsible.
Mr O'Donoghue said he thought it might be possible to reduce the number of months it took to process an application to about six.
"What is not often realised is that with the best will in the world, there are a lot of difficulties involved and there are certain procedures which have to be met," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue said he had to streamline the procedures but it was a difficult and complex area, and Ireland had international and humanitarian obligations in respect of asylum-seekers which it must meet.
Sister Lena Deevey, director of the Boston Irish Immigration Centre, said that allowing asylum-seekers to work would involve them and help them to develop stronger links with the host community. She told the UCC conference, "Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Ireland: Fostering Regional Partnerships" which was organised by the Irish Centre for Migration Studies: "I have seen the bad effects when people have not been given work permits. I've seen people being exploited, I've seen people not being given their wages and I've seen people being used and abused because they haven't been given work permits.
"One of the things I've noticed - and I think this is where our trade unions could come in very strongly - at a meeting I was at in Chicago, the unions have urged all undocumented immigrants to come out and join the unions. They know that if they're not going to be part of society, they're going to be abused and they're going to develop this kind of underground economy."