Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contribution. The manner in which the asylum process is dealt with, and how we progress it, is one of the key issues raised with us on a continuous basis. Asylum seekers may have concerns about accommodation and different things, but as Mr. Tyndall has rightly pointed out, the stuff about tension in the community, about which we have been hearing for many years, never comes to pass when the system is actually up and running in an area. It is important for us to make it very clear that it is never an issue.

I want to raise a couple of points with regard to families. In many cases, families are sharing a single room. It is difficult to share a very cramped space. I remember a case in which a family of a husband and wife and two small children arrived and stayed in a hotel room. By the time they had gone through the whole process, the children were teenagers. They had lived in a cramped space for a long time.

I recall one woman talking to me about how during her rebellious early teenage years, her daughter had a much better relationship with a neighbouring woman living down the corridor than she did with her own mother. In that scenario, where not just the members of a family but many different families live in such close proximity, tensions, stresses and strains are created. What responsibility does the RIA have to resolve that?