Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions

Direct Provision: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality

4:00 pm

Photo of Pádraig Mac LochlainnPádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a suggestion for everybody present. I am mindful that the Minister of State agreed to come here before the working group reports. He said he would have preferred to come before us afterwards in order to have a more constructive debate on the outcome.

I very much appreciate the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, has come today to allow us to get on with our report. We will publish our own report in the near future and so will the working group. Our hope is to complement the working group and to feed into its process. I suggest that perhaps later this year, possibly in six months time, it might be prudent to invite the Minister of State back to discuss at that remove the outcome of the working group, our recommendations, what has happened since and where we go next. That might be helpful. I share the frustration of Deputy Boyd Barrett. As Chairman of the committee I have visited the direct provision centres, as has the Minister of State, and all members present. I also understand the limitations on the Minister of State. Having already outlined his strong views on the matter, he does not want to be seen to direct the work of the working group but it might be helpful if we agree that in six months time the Minister of State could come before us again to recap on where we are at.

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