Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for appearing before us. This is a very important part of the committee's valuable engagement on this matter in recent weeks. I am sure the officials have been following our hearings. I reiterate my view that direct provision has lost the confidence of the residents and the Irish people. The committee's responsibility now is to formulate a proposal in our report that provides a comprehensive and detailed alternative. While I acknowledge that there have been improvements, there are still significant shortcomings in direct provision.

On the issue of emergency accommodation, I am conscious that the committee's hearings are on the direct provision and international protection system as a whole. Based on this hearing and our previous meeting, I am only beginning to get my head around the scale of this issue. Is it the case that, before last September, no one in the direct provision and international protection system was in emergency accommodation? Since the problem arose, it has escalated, with 687 people in emergency accommodation in mid-May and, according to the Department, that figure has since increased by 73 to 760. Does Ms Buckley believe it will continue to escalate and could we be back here in a few months talking about 900 or 1,000 people in emergency accommodation? Is that possible given the rate of increase since September?