Ms Josephine Bakaabatsile:

I live in direct provision accommodation and my concern relates to the Reception Integration Agency and how it functions. I live in one of its centres with my three children, one of whom is almost grown up. We need to know how children in asylum centres are affected by the children's rights referendum passed last year. For example, does the Government bear full or part responsibility for these children, or are their parents responsible for them? Their social development is bad. There are always complaints about how unsocial they are at school, but everybody forgets where and how they are growing up and about the confined spaces in which they are living. Many such families do not have or know what a microwave oven is because the space in which they are living is so small that there is no room for one. I am concerned about food, living conditions and health and safety at the centre in which I have lived for the past seven years, as it is infested with rats and cockroaches. Some residents, including me, try to keep the centre clean, including the outside spaces, and would like to know who is responsible for all of these issues.

On the Geneva Convention, we need transparency on whether Ireland complies with it in full or in part. Another issue of concern is the number who have died while in direct provision accommodation. We need to know how many have died, the causes of death, the centres at which they died and about the care they received while there. In 2008 I helped to care for a sick woman at my hostel until she was taken to hospital, where she later died. What is the point of people being granted refugee status when they are being buried in Ireland and what should happen to children in places such as Africa whose parents are buried here?

I would like to tell a little of my story. I am not sure if I am crossing the line because I am subject to a petition order of remand, but I do not really mind what the outcome will be. What I do mind about, however, is what happens when one tries to report a matter to the Garda Síochána. When I first came to this country, I went to the Garda Síochána to report how I had been brought here and so on. I could not tell it at the time that I was seeking asylum. I was so fearful I could not even speak to people staying at the hostel. I later managed to come out of my shell and go to the Garda Síochána to tell it I had discovered where the person concerned was staying. When I asked for help, I was asked if he had been abusive or beaten me. Did I have to be beaten to be listened to? How much do women staying at the refugee camps need to do in order to be heard and understood? They are often told when they report matters to the Garda Síochána, that they are not criminal matters. How are they to have their issues addressed? We need to know the role of the Garda Síochána in these matters.