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

I will finish on these two points. I asked a question at the last committee hearing.

I told the witnesses I had a concern about the Department's culture and attitude in respect of INIS and RIA. When I suggested the system might be too adversarial, Dr. Liam Thornton said he felt I was being generous in so describing the attitude and referred to the existence of a culture of disbelief. He told the committee that when the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection started to plan for the increases in the direct provision allowance, an official in the Department of Justice and Equality who was asked to offer a comment or express views began by stating they are all working anyway. A few other examples were given and a few other comments were made during the meeting. Another witness made the valid point that the Department's responsibility to uphold the security of the State might inform some its attitudes. I did not detect much disagreement with the view that there is an adversarial attitude to applicants. It is fair to give the officials from the Department an opportunity to respond to what was said at last week's meeting and give their views on the issues raised.

I have a final question. There has been a great deal of discussion in recent weeks about the potential to get out of private tendering, which clearly cannot be done overnight. This is very much in line with my own thinking. I believe the State should seek to provide accommodation directly or through not-for-profit bodies, approved housing bodies or community and voluntary organisations. At the same time, an effort should be made to integrate people into the mainstream housing system as quickly as possible. Is the Department open to that, given how expensive direct provision has been? I have seen statistics that suggest €1.25 billion has been spent on the system since 2001. Why has the Department not pursued such an approach since 2001? We are talking now about trying to get out of emergency accommodation as an immediate response. In 2001, direct provision was an emergency response as well but 18 years on, we are still with it.