Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon:

On the specifics of the right to work, I have a statement from the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality.

It reads:

Approximately 2,300 applications for the right to work have been made, 1,600 having been approved. We have had 632 employment declaration forms returned.

That would suggest that officially at least 25% to 30% of the applicants are being approved. I mentioned when the member was not here that I visited three centres in the past ten days, all in the same area of the country. In one centre, which was a men only centre, 38 of the 57 men were working. That is a good number, and of the 38 men, three were also doing further education. In the next centre which was for women and children only and in which there were 86 females, I was told that about 70% were working in that centre. Some of the women would not have been in a position to work because they had young children. Therefore 70% of that cohort is a significant number. The third centre was for single women, and in that centre 70% of the women were working. I hasten to add that this was in an area of the country where there is a good tourist business and where jobs in the hotel service industry are readily available. I do not know how common that is. I have the figures for one area which are very encouraging. I would not expect it to be the same in Foynes, Millstreet or in some of the other remote centres. That is why we have talked about location.

The Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, was mentioned as a possible organisation that might be approached to do the job for direct provision centres. I am not sure whether it was accepted or pursued as yet, but it needs to be an independent body with teeth. The Departments will be negotiating between themselves. I am sure there will be a reluctance to set up a new agency, but some existing body could take it on board as part of its portfolio. Mr. O'Neill wishes to comment.