Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and I welcome the witnesses. I have a couple of questions. I have no legal expertise so I speak as a lay person. To what extent do the witnesses believe that people use their own common sense in determining what is best at a particular time in the context of the Covid pandemic? Is it reliable? I suggest that it is not and that recent events, particularly those in the past in the past month, have shown that people do not necessarily decide in favour of what might be in their interests or the interests of those around them. That is one question.

My other question relates to the point that has just been raised in the context of direct provision. I have with the cases of many people in direct provision over a long number of years. This issue has come to the fore in recent times. The Legislature may well decide on alternative ways and means of housing people, but that takes time. In the interim, what should legislators do? If, for example, people are living in close proximity in direct provision, how can we change that? In my constituency, almost 8,000 families on the local authority waiting lists, and at least double that number again, are awaiting private housing of one kind or another. In those two circumstances, do the witnesses have any advice to give as to what legislators might find it possible to do to accommodate both sets of people? I will take answers from anybody.