Jobless asylum-seekers who have recently been allowed to seek work in Ireland are facing the threat of having their State benefit cut unless they prove they are genuinely looking for a job.
However, unlike Irish nationals or people with refugee status, asylum-seekers are not entitled to FAS training or State-funded language classes to help them prepare to join the labour force.
Some 2,000 asylum-seekers who are currently eligible to work are being told they must supply documentary evidence that they are "genuinely seeking" a job.
The type of evidence they are being asked to show includes copies of CVs or replies received from employers. Local social welfare offices have recently started notifying asylum-seekers that failure to produce such evidence could lead to their unemployment assistance being cut or suspended.
Some asylum-seekers have received letters to this effect, written in English. However, many of them cannot understand English.
The move has been strongly criticised by the Irish Refugee Council, which claims it is driven by a desire to make Ireland an unattractive place for people to claim asylum.
A council spokesman, Mr Derek Stewart, said one asylum-seeker received written notice from his local social welfare office in Dublin last month that he had six weeks to supply documentary evidence that he was genuinely seeking work.
The man, who is Muslim, speaks no English and had to rely on a young relative to translate the letter for him. He is not in a position to take up work as a carpenter, as he is trained, because he does not speak English.
Mr Stewart claimed that a considerable number of Irish nationals have been claiming unemployment assistance for years without receiving such letters. "This raises an issue of a discriminatory element against asylum-seekers," he added.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs stressed that it was standard practice for people claiming unemployment assistance to be notified that their efforts to find work would be regularly reviewed and to be asked to supply documentary evidence.
At the review stage, a person's lack of language skills or other cultural problems would be taken into account, he added.
"The Department is treating people equitably and there is no distinction between Irish nationals who are on unemployment assistance and asylum-seekers.
"Once you are on unemployment assistance you are liable for a review at any time. Calling people for a review does not mean that they will be knocked off their benefits," he said.
The spokesman added that staff had been trained to be culturally sensitive and people who were not deemed eligible for unemployment assistance could make a claim for supplementary welfare allowance.
Some 2,000 asylum-seekers - about a quarter of the total in the State - are currently eligible to work on the basis that they have been resident in the Republic for more than 12 months prior to last July.
In recent weeks, eligible asylum-seekers have been invited to transfer their claim for State benefits from supplementary welfare allowance, paid by health boards, to unemployment assistance, which the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs pays.
It is when they register their claims for unemployment assistance at local social welfare offices that they are being notified that they must show they are genuinely seeking work, according to the Department spokesman.
However, unlike Irish nationals or people who have been granted refugee status, asylum-seekers are not entitled to take part in FAS courses or State-funded training courses, including language courses, to help them find jobs.
Mr Philip Watt, from the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, which gives policy advice to the Government, said no consideration appeared to have been taken of extra barriers facing asylum-seekers.
"It's potentially a punitive measure and we would be seeking a meeting with the Department on this issue," he said.
Ms Camille Loftus, welfare rights co-ordinator with the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, said asylum-seekers entitled to work should at least be given access to language classes.