<p>
	Report says asylum seekers should be allowed work after nine months in system</p>
<p>
	New asylum seekers should have decision on their application within 12 months and the right to work after nine months, a new Government report on the asylum system says.</p>
<p>
	Young people in the asylum process, who have been here for five years or more, should be allowed go to third level in the same way EU and Irish nationals can, while over 3,000 people who have been in the system five years or more should now be &ldquo;fast-tracked&rdquo; to residency.</p>
<p>
	Recommendations on improving living conditions in the 34 direct provision centres around the State, however, are less forthright.</p>
<p>
	The final report from the &lsquo;Working Group on Improvements to the Protection Process, including Direct Provision and Supports to Asylum Seekers&rsquo; was published this afternoon.</p>
<p>
	It was brought to Cabinet this morning by Minister for Equality, Aodh&aacute;n &Oacute; R&iacute;ord&aacute;in but has yet to be approved by Government.</p>
<p>
	If fully implemented, it envisages savings to the exchequer of about &euro;60 million over five years.</p>
<p>
	It makes recommendations on speeding up the asylum application process and improving living conditions and ancillary supports to people in the system.</p>
<p>
	The working group, which was chaired by Justice Bryan McMahon, included representatives from across Government departments as well as NGOs working with asylum seekers and refugees and a core group of asylum applicants and refugees. It met between November 10th last year and May 12th.</p>
<p>
	The most pressing issue for the almost 8,000 people in the system is the length of time they are in it, with 55 per cent of them there over five years. It says &ldquo;as a matter of principle&rdquo; no one should be in the system more than five years.</p>
<p>
	Some 3,607 people are in direct provision centres, with no access to cooking.</p>
<p>
	Whole families share bedrooms with no other private space, while single adults share rooms with other adults</p>
<p>
	The key recommendation is to replace the current system where applications for asylum, subsidiary protection and leave to remain are processed consecutively, with a single procedure where all potential applications are processed in a single step.</p>
<p>
	People should get a &ldquo;final quality decision&rdquo; within 12 months, says the report. The enactment of the International Protection Bill, which will underpin most of the other recommendations, should happen &ldquo;as a matter of urgency&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	The report envisages this by January.</p>
<p>
	Once up and running it is thought about 40 per cent of applicants will gain right to remain in Ireland with the remaining having to leave.</p>
<p>
	For those already in the system more than five years &ndash; about 3,350 &ndash; the report recommends they have their cases fast-tracked and either be granted residency or have their deportation order revoked.</p>
<p>
	The report calls for improvements to living conditions, including that:</p>
<p>
	&ndash; the weekly allowance be increased from &euro;19.10 to &euro;38.74 for adults, and from &euro;9.60 &euro;29.80 for children</p>
<p>
	&ndash; all families should have access to cooking facilities, with ingredients provided by the accommodation manager, and their own private living space &ldquo;in so far as practicable&rdquo;, and,</p>
<p>
	&ndash; single adults should be able to apply for a single room after nine months and be offered one after 15 months, and should have the option of cooking for themselves.</p>
<p>
	The right to work for people who have been in the system for nine months or more should be provided &ldquo;when the single procedure is operating efficiently&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	The report also says the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children should be able to investigate complaints from residents of direct provision centres.</p>
<p>
	The cost of implementing the recommendations will be &euro;135.4 million over five years, it says.</p>
<p>
	However savings of over &euro;195 million will accrue if its recommendations on speeding up the legal process are implemented.</p>
<p>
	These anticipated savings are dependent on adequate resources for the legal bodies that process protection applications.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;In the absence of adequate resources, it will not matter how speedily applications will be processed under the single procedure because, with new applicants far outstripping current processing capacity at first instance, the result will be the development of a substantial backlog of applications,&rdquo; says the report.</p>
<p>
	About 3,000 asylum applications are expected this year, compared with 1,448 last year.</p>
<p>
	The cost of accommodating one person for a year in direct provision is &euro;10,950. The cost of decision-making is a &ldquo;fraction of this&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	The &euro;135.4 million cost over five years is made up of &euro;14 million on improvements to the protection process; &euro;69 million on improving living conditions in direct provision centres and &euro;52.4 million on improving ancillary supports, such as health care, and counselling, to applicants.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/asylum-seekers-should-get-decision-within-12-months-1.2268265">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/asylum-seekers-should-get-decision-within-12-months-1.2268265</a></p>
