The Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) Justice Commission has strongly criticised the Government's refusal to allow work permits for asylum-seekers while a decision is awaited on their application.
The CORI commission described as "perverse" the Government's intention to recruit abroad to fill job vacancies in Ireland while refusing to develop mechanisms that would allow asylum-seekers to have work permits. It pointed out that the social partners had urged that asylum-seekers be allowed to work.
Asylum-seekers were being forced into welfare dependency through no fault of their own, the commission added. This, in turn, led to racist attitudes developing towards them among some Irish taxpayers.
Amnesty International said the decision to rush through the amendments to the Refugee Act by Thursday next ran the risk of not building in human rights guarantees.