David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Can I give an example? Deputy Connolly spoke about the question of how some of these centres were run and the level of curtailment of the rights of some people who were residents in these centres. In 2009, when I was a local councillor in Waterford, I received correspondence from a residents association which was set up in one of these reception centres. They asked me to come and meet them in the centre, which I did but I was refused permission to meet them on the campus because I was told that it was a private company and I had to be given permission. I was not aware of that and I asked for an alternative date but was not given one. I asked why I was being refused permission and was told because it was a private company and it did not have to give permission. I was not comfortable with that and the residents wanted the meeting on site in the place they lived. They had issues in regard to how the centre was managed. I was then asked to leave and ultimately barred from the premises. Gardaí were called although they never arrived. I have heard the description being used a few times that these centres were being run like prisons. It struck me that was how I was treated as a public representative, if that was my experience when all I wanted to do was to have a meeting with residents, how then were people living in the centre treated when we were not there? There was a view that some of these centres were being run on the lines of "out of sight, out of mind". Given my experience as a local councillor and how I was treated, being told by a manager that I was barred simply because I was looking to meet with residents, how does that square with the idea that these centres are being run well and with people being treated well?