Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses before the committee this afternoon. I will raise three items before inviting other members of the committee to speak. As the Minister has outlined legislation, there will be aspects of the Garda Síochána's operations that will come within its scope. The presentation this afternoon referred to two issues about which we would like more information.

With regard to access to records, Anti-Deportation Ireland has requested confirmation that the freedom of information Act will apply to the records of reception and integration agency centres around the country, including the centre on the airport road in Cork, which is in my constituency. The witnesses have indicated there is currently no information available on asylum seekers who die in direct provision facilities, with certain questions to be asked. They have also indicated there is no information on how many people have died in direct provision in Ireland and there is no information on cause of death and the hostel centres where people die. There is also no identification of the nationality of people who die. Does this arise because of existing freedom of information rules or has the group not been able to obtain the information because of other factors? What has been the difficulty to date with getting the information?