Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked two straight questions. The Irish Refugee Council can speak for itself, but the best place to be is making these points within the working group. That is my answer to the Deputy's first question.

Second, I want this working group to succeed. From its very beginning most people were willing to give the group a fair wind. A minority were willing it to fail and tried to find reasons to pick holes in it. Hand on heart, however, I am impressed by the composition of the working group, the issues it is addressing and the way it has set about its work. The number of meetings it has had, including the establishment of various sub-groups, are also impressive.

If the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and I had been attending every single meeting of the working group, we would be accused of political interference. In addition, people would say the group was not independent and its members could not speak openly. However, the working group has rightly gone out of its way to hear as many testimonies of the realities of living in direct provision as it possibly could.

We have a short time in politics and my time in this Department will most likely be short as well, with possibly a year to go. In that time, more than anything, I want to achieve reform in this area. I know that the working group will deliver that. The Deputy may not have the same faith as I do, but I have it. I trust that when the report comes out, and hopefully the Government will agree to publish it - I expect so - it will be the beginning of a whole new start for people in the protection system. Their faith in the working group will have been justified.