David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman has raised a lot of issues. With respect to the first point about the time spent in direct provision, I do not want to see persons residing in the State-provided accommodation for long periods. The McMahon working group did recognise that length of stay is a key challenge to be addressed in the asylum process. The implementation of the International Protection Act 2015 will see more efficient and effective case processing in decisions on protection applications. This will have a positive impact on the duration of stay in State-provided accommodation in the future. Approximately half of asylum seekers are not in State-provided accommodation. People are free to leave State-provided accommodation when they wish. People move in and out of State-provided accommodation. There are some who have leave to remain and do not want to leave the State-provided accommodation. I have met people who are happy that their needs are being met and they are grateful because many have come from appalling situations. There are people who are not happy, and the Chairman is right, because of the length of time they have had to stay there, but that is being changed. The International Protection Act 2015 will come into force at the end of this year and the intention and hope will be that, within eight to 12 months, the decision will be made that a person stays or goes.

That will address another issue that colleagues did not raise this morning, the right to work. Once people have refugee status, they have the right to work. They have virtually the same rights as an Irish citizen, except the right to vote. Ireland is a country that is open to migration. We have naturalised more than 100,000 people in the past five years to become Irish citizens. That has to be acknowledged. I am not sure whether colleagues here have been at any of the citizenship ceremonies, and if not, they might like to attend. They are amazing occasions, when people from virtually all countries of the world attend, very often in their traditional costumes. The sense of joy they have on becoming Irish citizens is amazing. I do not agree with the proposal that we are not open to migration. People come here all the time.

The McMahon working group and the single application procedure will make a huge difference and will be implemented in full from 31 December. We will see big changes there. Decisions will be made much faster and so forth.

As I have said in the Dáil, colleagues who wish to visit a direct provision centre should contact the Department and we will make arrangements. If they do visit, I would ask that they go alone. We have to respect these people's privacy. This is their home for the time being. If colleagues want to go in and meet people and chat to them, they should contact us, but they should not make it a huge media event because people might be worried and intimidated by that. If they have a suggestion following that on something they have seen or would like improved, we would be more than interested to hear from them.

I was aware of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, MRCI, issue and I was chairman of this committee when a report was brought forward. If there are people who through no fault of their own are undocumented and want to make representations to us, the Department will consider those cases, but there will be no blanket amnesty because each case has to be considered individually.

There are several definitions of an unaccompanied minor. The Government recognised the importance of prioritising family groups, and in addressing the position of unaccompanied children, it should be noted that a significant number who arrived to date are young children with one or two parents. I think approximately half are children we have taken in and that will continue. The Greek and Irish definitions of an unaccompanied minor differ. In Ireland an unaccompanied minor is anyone younger than 18 who is not accompanied by an adult family member, mother, father, siblings, grandparents or spouse or legally appointed guardian. In Greece, an unaccompanied minor is anyone younger than 18 not accompanied by a member of the nuclear family, mother, father or adult sibling. For example, a girl aged 17 married to a man aged 20 plus is technically an unaccompanied minor in Greece. The European Asylum Support Office uses statistics from Greece in its regular updates on the migration crisis, and recently obtained figures from Greece show that by its definition Ireland has taken in 17 unaccompanied minors whereas under the Irish definition we have taken in five.

The Tusla officials have travelled to Athens several times to interview and assess unaccompanied minors and will continue to do so in future missions. Tusla is initially committed to taking in 20 unaccompanied minors by the Irish definition during the course of the programme. The initial commitment has been increased more than tenfold with the issuing of the Government's recent commitment to identify up to 200 unaccompanied minors from former migrant camps in Calais still residing in France and who may wish to relocate to Ireland. We are anxious to do it. Deputy Daly has identified the challenges of fostering. I have taken note of what she said and will pass it on to my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

That addresses most of the issues the Chairman raised. I welcome any constructive criticism people may have of any of the services being provided by the State. The officials are working hard to ensure the accommodation and services provided are as good as we can make them. I know the Chairman is aware that, for instance, in Mosney and other centres, we are putting in cooking facilities for families. Many of the single men prefer to be in city centre accommodation whereas families like places like Mosney where children can play and where there is a crèche, a preschool and school bus service. Quite a few people have moved out of these centres in the past 12 months and will move out next year and more will move in.

This is the nature of it. Some people move out and stay with friends and relatives and make their own arrangements, which is fine. People are free to come and go as they wish in direct provision if they have the resources and supports outside to do so. In some instances, Irish citizens have actually made friends with people in direct provision and have assisted them to move out while they are still waiting for their asylum cases to be processed. I hope this answers the Chairman's question.