Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. Ireland has always been known as the country with the "céad míle fáilte" and we all want that for people who have been through such a terrible time. I am very concerned about how it is going to work and I find it all a bit vague in terms of what is before me. I am deeply concerned about putting people into reception centres. I have no idea about exactly how long it is envisaged that people will be in these reception centres. My question is to Mr. Kirrane. I come from a town that has a direct provision centre. While the staff who work there are exceptional and go far beyond the call of duty to look after the people who live there, the system is completely flawed. The people live in terrible situations. Some of them have been living in mobile homes for more than ten years. These are people who are already here, but now we are going to bring more people in on top of that. The places people are saying may be suitable as reception centres include empty Army barracks, one of which is in my constituency. I would not like to bring my family to live in one of those barracks. It is not fair to people. We also have a serious housing issue to which Deputy Finian McGrath referred. If one puts people into a reception centre and processes them, where are we going to house them afterwards given the serious housing issue? We are talking very vaguely whereas I would like specifics as to what kind of accommodation people will have in these reception centres. I do not understand where Mr. Kirrane gets the idea that it is best practice to put people into a situation like that as it ghettoises them. I would love a little more padding around that.