Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I have so many questions that I wish this meeting could continue for longer than proposed. I accept that it is not the witnesses' fault, but this is the second high-powered delegation we have met from the Department of Justice and Equality that is all male. As I said, it is not their fault. However, it is clearly a reflection of the position of women in terms of the upper echelons of the organisation. It is a matter that has to be raised and addressed.

My questions are a little bit eclectic but they relate to the areas we are discussing, many of which, I believe, are hugely problematic. I accept that a number of answers have already been given. However, some of my questions are new and others touch on points raised by previous speakers. In terms of asylum and direct provision and the points made about backlogs and so on, one could be led to believe that we are dealing with gigantic numbers. In reality, they are actually tiny. Between 2008 and 2016, Ireland had the second lowest rating in terms of granting asylum across the EU, well below the average. In a 12-year period, 87% of asylum applications were denied. During that time, under 2,000 people were given asylum in the first instance, which is incredible. We are talking about very low numbers. Why do we refuse so many? When I have previously asked that question the standard response has been that a lot of the applications received are from non-conflict areas such as Georgia. This is not true. Ireland rejected 69% of people from Somalia, 88% from the Congo, which has experienced two decades of war, 71% from Afghanistan, 63% from Palestine, 94% from Angola and 55% from Iraq. Will the witnesses provide an explanation for this? How confident are they in terms of the systems, attitudes and approaches of the Irish asylum system that we are safeguarding people's rights, or is there some cultural problem such that they feel they have to keep the numbers low? Those figures do not add up.

Linked to asylum is the single procedure to speed up the process. This has been in place for a year and a half. What proportion of people have been in direct provision for more than two years since the introduction of the single procedure?