John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to go over all the points I made earlier with regard to the timeline but I want to speak about Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, and Community Law and Mediation. They have raised serious concerns around the allowance rates for asylum seekers in direct provision. The Bill does not mention any increase whatever in this area. An adult is expected to live on €19.10 and a child on €15.60 per week. There has been an awful lot of talk about fivers being thrown all over the place but there is no talk around the issue of direct provision. I know that the McMahon report on direct provision in Ireland put forward a series of recommendations and there has been no action at all in this regard. The UN has also asked that the Government address this. I know we are dealing with increases and we are dealing with timelines, but I want it on the record that there are serious concerns about this. Contrary to the mantra that all payments are going up by €5, there is a serious problem with this particular allowance. I also raised the issue with regard to child benefit in that many of the children in the direct provision system are born within the State and theoretically they are Irish citizens. We have had the discussion around the timeframe for the payments and I will not go through all that again, but it is a complex issue and I want it on the record.