Mr. Gerald Musekiwa:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for inviting us to make a presentation. I come from a hostel which is 10 km outside the local town centre of Portlaoise. This centre is isolated. We talk about integration, but there is no way to integrate with the community because we are surrounded by sheep and cattle. That is what forms the community around us.

In regard to the demonstration that took place within my hostel, the main reason people were up in arms and demonstrated was because of the long stay in direct provision. Many of us, including myself, have been in the system for seven years. I was one of the first people to arrive at my hostel and I am still there. The main issue for us is the long stay. All of the issues we are discussing here and problems within the asylum process arise as a result of the accumulation of years in direct provision. If people were assigned to direct provision for one or two years, they would know where they stood and we would not hear the complaints that are being made about the system as a whole.

I believe that the system is not the only problem, but also the inactivity in areas such as the Judiciary and other areas of the processing system. It is a lethargic process. I say this in respect of people who are on the list for deportation. Most of the people I know in my own hostel who are on the deportation list have been signing for three or four years. I see this as a form of torture. Every month they go and sign on and every month they fear deportation. I believe there should be some resolution everything. If people cannot be deported, why are they not permitted to stay? If it is not possible to send them back to their country, why are they not given permission to stay, instead of keeping them in fear for four years?

Another aspect of the process is that of asylum seekers with families. I have a father and I share a room with my wife and daughter who is two and a half years old. Everything my child sees and says will portray and be dictated by whatever activity takes place in our room. I know a family of four in my hostel, a father, mother and two children - all in a room the size of a prison cell. There should be some resolution to the cases of people like this. People are five, six or seven years in the system, but we are still talking about their cases. This is wrong. Many of these people could contribute to this nation not only as workers, but in setting up businesses. Some of the people in direct provision are doctors. Many people with potential have been stuck for years in this system.

People who have been stuck for years in the system have not been allowed the opportunity to retrain or work. I see work as something that helps to provide balance for mental health. For some years, I have been considering the fact that nobody comes to our hostel to check on our mental health. We must go out to the community for that. In the country I come from, mental health issues are seen as taboo and people, therefore, never go out to somebody to say they have a mental health problem. Over the past seven years, I have never seen a qualified person come to my hostel to check on the people in the hostel. The only time I have seen mental health personnel is when they have been taking somebody to the psychiatric ward.

Mental health issues are a symptom of the problem of long stays in direct provision where people have nothing to do with their lives. People are faced with the issue of what to do with their time.

What does one do with one’s time? One’s children are watching one sitting there doing nothing. One’s life is at a standstill. Most of the children who have grown up within the system speak and actually behave like adults. They even talk about the asylum process like they know it like a book. Why? It is because their parents speak about it and they learn from their parents. That is a parent's role. Everything good and bad is shown to one’s child. We are in a room. I am with my wife. I want to have what one does in a relationship. How can I do it in front of my child? We cannot do it. It is not possible because we are all in the same room. Direct provision is not good for a family at all. It breaks families.