Mr. Lucky Khambule:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. It is nice to see him here. During the many years I spent in Cork he was always making himself known in the direct provision centre. Everyone there knows of his work, which we appreciate. I remember that he arranged for lines to be drawn around a bus stop opposite the centre as there was a danger to the children.

A comment was made to the effect that the situation had improved. From MASI's day-to-day interaction with the people involved, things have got worse. I repeat things have got worse. The situation in which the Government finds itself in having to provide emergency accommodation should not have arisen. There should have been a better plan to allow us to respond to the large increase in the number of people coming here. There has been an immigration crisis since 2015. If we are now only thinking about what we need to do, it shows that we did not think hard enough before.

Some of the things that came from the work of the working group include the single application procedure and the introduction of the International Protection Act 2015. We were told that it would cut all waiting periods to nine months. We were also told that the system would be capable of getting through everything within nine months. That meant that one would be out of the direct provision system within nine months, but that did not happen. There is an 18-month backlog of people who have not been called for their first interview. There are people who have not been a chance to present their case for refugee status. Some do not even know when they will be called, which is a problem.

To give an indication of how bad things are, I can point to two centres where action was taken. Two months ago in west Cork the residents had had enough and demonstrated. There was also a demonstration in Mosney. That indicates that there is something wrong. What is also alarming is the squeezing of residents by local management to discourage people from speaking up or making complaints. I know that some complaints have been recorded by the Ombudsman, but the numbers are low. That is because people are being told that if they complain, their cases and applications will be affected. Fear is stopping them from saying what is not happening.

Management in some centres has so much power that it can issue notices that disrupt everybody. I will give two examples. In one of the centres a notice was issued indicating that people were not allowed to use their phones, laptops or iPads at certain times. For no reason, a curfew was imposed which prevented people from communicating with others. Some people are studying and use their time to study. Others have families in different time zones. How can someone wake up and have it in mind to impose such a rule? In another centre residents have what we call counter fridges. Sometimes fridges are donated to people with kids or who need to store medications in order that they will be able to store them in their room. The centre in question made a rule that residents were no longer allowed to have fridges in their room. Management actually confiscated fridges from people's rooms, usually when they were not there. It just came into someone's room and ransacked it. A lady might have come back to her room to find that her wardrobe had been turned upside down. That is the kind of life people are living in direct provision centres. That is a big problem because things will explode. When people are treated in that way, the time will come when they will say enough is enough. We can avoid this just by being compassionate and dealing with people as human beings. That is all that we request, even from the people who are there. Hotel managers have no reason to treat people who have suffered torture in that way. They are only interested in the bottom line. Some have even gone to the extent of having residents in a centre volunteer because of downsizing. Why are they doing this? They are maximising profits. They want to replace people who are salaried with others who are vulnerable and will agree to anything. They want to use them to provide the services and do work that is supposed to be done by the State. That needs to stop. The issue needs to be highlighted in order that people can be held accountable.

The Deputy spoke about the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB. Our experience of the GNIB relates mainly to the length of time it takes people to receive their GNIB card.

Once someone has been granted the right to stay in Ireland, be that on a refugee, subsidiary protection or leave-to-remain basis, the GNIB is key. Without the GNIB card, one has nowhere to go. In our interactions with the GNIB, delays are a problem. We do not really have much contact with the rest of the Garda unless officers are called because of a complaint against someone in the centre.