A separate immigration and asylum authority free from the "restrictive control of the Department of Justice" should be established, the leader of the Labour Party has said.
Mr Ruarí Quinn said his party was committed to a "green card" system for migrant workers, and would also allow asylum-seekers waiting two years for decisions on their refugee applications to apply for green cards to allow them to work. Mr Quinn outlined his party's stance on immigration issues at a public meeting in Dublin last night organised by Comhlámh, the organisation of returned development workers. He said the Government's attitudes to the issue of asylum-seekers "have contributed more to public concerns about the issue than they have to assuage them. It has been Government members in particular who have contributed to any public unease about this issue and that have acted in an irresponsible fashion". Mr Quinn said his party's policy paper, "Ending the Chaos", argued for a "coherent and humane policy of immigration into this country based on a quota system".