Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On a separate issue, the Minister has stated it is predicted that expenditure will increase by 13.5% in the current year compared to 2017. The number in accommodation currently is 14% higher than at the end of 2017. The Minister has also said increased costs arising from improvements in facilities generally, including implementation of the recommendations made in the McMahon report, have led to increased budgetary pressures. Only recently, a worker in the centre in Ballaghaderreen contacted me and said the place was hell on earth. Of late Deputy Clare Daly and I have been working with a number of refugees in direct provision centres. From what we are being told, they seem to be soul-destroying places in which to live. The Minister says improvements are being made. Am I right in thinking most of the facilities are still being run by the private sector? Who is making the improvements and how are they being managed? Are private sector enterprises organising the improvements or does the State have a hand in making them? Does it have any say in what is going on and what actually is being improved? The Minister says the figures are going up, but what is being done to have fewer people in direct provision centres? We know that there is a housing crisis, but we have had it for a long time. Has any effort been made on the part of the State to actually build something proper for the people concerned or are we going to leave them and watch their numbers increase?