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

I welcome that. I hope that things will be handled differently in future. Communication with the coroner's office will be key in that regard. I will raise two final issues, which relate more directly to direct provision per se. I have previously raised the matter of location. It is not my view that all centres should be located in Dublin or anything like that. While I have the opportunity I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the attacks on proposed direct provision centres in Moville and Roosky. They were appalling acts which show a disgraceful mindset. While I do not believe all who present for protection should be accommodated in Dublin, there are issues for the residents arising from the location of some centres. People accommodated in Moville would have had to travel through the Six Counties, which is not legal, or to take an extremely circuitous route to attend appointments in Dublin. That would probably not be possible in a single day. The income given to such people would make the use of public transport very challenging. Accommodation would also have presented a challenge. Mount Trenchard is not served by public transport generally. Travelling from Kenmare would probably involve an overnight stay if one had to spend any serious length of time in Dublin.

I have raised this with the Minister previously. When people are required to attend appointments in Dublin, insofar as possible, centres should not be located in places that have poor public transport connections. They should be located in places with transport links that are as good as possible, where there are opportunities to work and good educational opportunities, and where capacity exists in the community to support the centre. In addition, as much as possible needs to be done to bring the mountain to the centre. People should be able to attend as many of their appointments as possible and fulfil as many of their obligations as possible within the centre. The Minister seemed open-minded to that point. Is it being progressed?