Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I share the Deputy's concern about this vulnerable group of young people. I wrote a report on unaccompanied asylum seekers and young people in this country. I was appalled at what I found and made a number of recommendations at the time, which was a number of years ago, including that these young people should be treated the same as Irish young people in care and that the same procedures, standards and support should be available. That was not the case a number of years ago and what has happened over the past ten years is disturbing.

These young people are not now placed in hostels, where they were very vulnerable. Some 105 unaccompanied young people came into this country last year and they are assigned a foster care placement or a children's residential centre if a foster home is not available immediately. That is a much better situation than what existed previously. Children were in hostels that were unsuitable and did not have the supervision they needed. They could have been vulnerable to trafficking or other dangers. Today, the situation is much clearer and the standards that apply are higher than what applied previously. The placements are better and more supervised and I pay tribute to the social workers who have worked in difficult circumstances over the past number of years. A specially trained team of social workers work with these children, who were in the most vulnerable situation. They deserve the very best care when they find themselves in this isolated situation where they are unaccompanied coming into this country.

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