Asylum seekers should be able to work in Ireland as soon as they arrive, the head of a migrants rights group has said.
Minister of State Neale Richmond said yesterday he wants asylum seekers to be able to work after two months in Ireland once they’re "completely verified" and fit to do so.
Doras CEO John Lannon told Newstalk Breakfast this change would be a step in the right direction.
"This is a positive proposal," he said.
"Asylum seekers can apply for permission to work here... if they've not received a decision on their International Protraction Application after five months.
"Reducing it to two months would be a step in the right direction.
"In principle they should be allowed to work from when they arrive, we believe, once their applications have been accepted and processed."
'Forced idleness'
Mr Lannon said a change would bring other asylum seekers in line with Ukrainians coming here.
"It's worth mentioning that beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine are permitted to work from day one when they arrive," he said.
"That enables them to integrate [and] to contribute here.
"The thing is that people want to work; having to live in situations of forced idleness on €38.80 a week is really difficult for them.
"We also have to bear in mind that we have a labour shortage here in construction and other sectors.
"We've a cohort of people who are willing to work but they can't".
'Economic pull factors'
Mr Lannon dismissed a suggestion that allowing asylum seekers to work world increase the numbers coming here.
"There's no evidence that economic pull factors have any bearing on the number of asylum applications that a country gets," he said.
"Despite there being a lot of research into why asylum seekers choose one country over another, not one study has found a long-term causal link between welfare or work policies and the numbers of asylum seekers," he added.
Demand for migrant workers to fill skills has seen a surge in employers seeking work permits.
In the last month alone there has been 5,366 applications made to the Department of Enterprise for work permits.
Nurses, healthcare assistants, chefs, computer programmers and doctors are among the top candidates being sought.
