Asylum-seekers’ work ban criticised

THE ban on asylum-seekers working is damaging to the economy and should be urgently reviewed, the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) said yesterday.

It also wants changed the system whereby asylum-seekers are housed in direct-provision centres.

The IRC was responding to a story in Monday’s Irish Examiner which revealed that the Government had spent over €1.1 billion on services for asylum seekers over the four-year period to the end of 2003. The organisation reiterated its view that the system was “expensive and wasteful.”