Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I am delighted that some members of my committee, as well as other Members of the Seanad who are not part it, are in attendance, in light of the interest in the issues under discussion today. With this report, members of the Council of Europe Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination are trying to add value to this treaty body process as lawmakers. It is new territory for them to an extent and they are delighted to have the witnesses help them with that issue, as they try to think about what are some of the things they wish to say to the United Nations Human Rights Committee about what is the most urgent priority, in terms of response to the Government's report on these issues.

I have two questions for Dr. Thornton. He ended his contribution by calling for the advocacy of an independent complaints mechanism in regard to the direct provision process. I note, as he did, that the Government in its response to the issue of an independent complaints mechanism, which was raised by the UN Human Rights Committee, stated that in the Reception and Integration Agency's view there is no clear model that is being cited as to what an independent complaints mechanism would look like and, consequently, from reading further on what the Government said, effectively, it is not going to proceed on that matter. I want to hear what Dr. Thornton has to say in that regard.

My second question is in terms of Dr. Thornton's more general report, and he referred to this in his presentation, where he argues that the direct provision system that is in place is legally suspect. Could he say a little more about that, as that is a strong statement and accusation to make?