Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for that. It is easy to be horrified. In my mind and heart, I am still with the 15-year-old girl mentioned by Dr. O'Dalaigh, to be honest, and am thinking about that plight. We recognise, from everything the witnesses are sharing, that there is a huge amount of training and a huge amount of work. In anything I have seen in respect of the commitment from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to Citywest, I have no doubt but that people are working hours way beyond what they are employed to work, and they are giving goodwill way beyond that. This comes out of a passion and commitment to children. I respect and honour that for a start. This is a precursor to the fact that I am going to give out a little bit.

In an ideal world we would have a place. Earlier this year I worked with the Amal project operating out of the mosque on the South Circular Road. The women there have done the most amazing work, especially around Ramadan, when they provide packages to families who are living in direct provision accommodation. Reference was made to the practical nuts and bolts of everyday living. The fast is from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. It has been mentioned that in a lot of direct provision accommodation, there was no kitchen open so people had to have something in their bedroom to be able to cope with eating outside of those times. I was quite astonished that we had not anticipated this. To be fair, the Minister is open to looking at what we could do in that regard and agitate to do that. Within our provision, however, we did not anticipate the cultural aspect. We are dealing with a religion that is different to what we are used to providing for, and which has people who are particular adherents and who are committed. How do they cater for their children and for themselves in very limited accommodation? We did not anticipate that. As much as we do, we seem to miss some of the practical nuts and bolts.

This brings me to a place where I wonder that while we are allowing in more people and say we are going to broaden the work permit - I am 100% against the limitations - yet we have people in direct provision all across the country who are fantastically qualified and come with competence. Some of it is rooted in a stereotype that is well outdated in any way, shape or form. We have a demand in our workforce, yet here we have people living in the country. Let us go with that before we start opening up work permits, although I believe we need to do that as well. As we have people in the country doing that, let us open that.

However, for the 15-year-old, this is not going to be an answer. Even with opening up the opportunity to work, perhaps a 15-year-old cannot manage finances and clearly could be coerced out of those finances. What else needs to happen? I want to give the witnesses the opportunity to finish what they are saying. What can be done in a practical way, day to day, bearing in mind that everything Tusla is saying here is right and true? There is a recruitment issue and there are challenges but I do not believe there is a lack of heart. Maybe there is a nuts and bolts piece that sometimes we miss.

How can we do that differently?