Mr. Enda O'Neill:

I would like to make just one small point on the latter question as well. Questions such as the implementation of the right to work can sometimes become politicised and the debate can be quite polarised and anecdotally based. I referred to the Department of Justice and Equality's culture and values charter, which states that it approaches policy development in a spirit of openness and consultation with all relevant stakeholders, employing evidence-based policy methodologies. This is also in the Department's strategy statement. That is what we did in the McMahon report, in the working group. We were given the information and the evidence in order to be able to make well-informed decisions, to speak with all the relevant Departments and to frame policy in that environment. I am not sure I can say the same thing is happening on an ongoing basis. This is one example of an area where we should always conduct reviews and see whether it is effective and whether more can be done. I will give one positive example, which is the open doors initiative. A number of Government Departments and the private sector are collaborating on this, and we and a number of NGOs are supporting partners. We helped contribute recently to a support tool for employers in order that they can better understand the permissions and how they can go about employing people from various backgrounds, including migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and persons with disabilities. We need to encourage such constructive spaces where we can all play a role in trying to find solutions rather than throwing figures around that we are not sure of or finding criticism when we can perhaps find solutions.

To respond to the Senator's second point about the standards, there was a meeting last week with officials from the Department of Justice and Equality at which the final text was agreed. There was a public consultation, and I credit the Department as the initiative it took to this was very positive. We and many of the NGOs concerned and officials from the Department went to the various centres, met residents and discussed the standards with them. I understand that the final step is for the Minister to sign off on the text. I expect this to happen promptly. These standards have already influenced the contractual basis of some of the current arrangements with direct provision centres. The best way to understand the standards is that they translate the recommendations of McMahon into easy-to-understand binding standards that will apply universally to reception centres. There is certainly a potential issue with the divergence in standards across the system. Even within centres there can be a complete divergence of standards between the rooms for families and those for single males, for example. With these standards there will be uniform treatment. Of course, in order to ensure they are applied in practice, an independent inspectorate is required. That will form the basis of contractual obligations with any provider services. It is crucial that an independent inspectorate is given all necessary authority to go into centres unannounced and all the powers necessary to be able to say with authority that the standards are in fact being implemented in practice.