Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I appreciate the Deputy's kind words. We will certainly keep at it. The non-vetting was a shock to us. We probably decided to extend the investigation from one centre to the whole national system to see if that was the case anywhere else. As I am sure members know, if someone is in a voluntary system, be it the GAA or as a school driver, he or she must be vetted before being allowed to do that. To be a staff member alongside so many vulnerable children and not be vetted was a dangerous scenario from our point of view and we needed to check it out.

What our wish list would be is always a difficult question. If we started with an own door scenario that allowed people to be in accommodation, be it two or three rooms knocked together with their own cooking facilities and separation of privacy for the children, that would be a starting point. A second wish would be to move out of emergency accommodation so that there could be live, controlled centres that met the standards, which are minimal enough.

A third wish would be for better community integration in line with the idea that we support one another. I believe there are 4,500 people within the direct provision system and, as the Deputy says, people often use terms like "scrounger", "should not be here" and "they are taking from us". The reality is there are doctors, engineers, professors, teachers, nurses and others in the system who are phenomenally gifted and able to give back to us if we are able to facilitate them. That is why steps forward like having the ability to create a bank account or get a driving licence and the right to work will change the situation quickly. If you are able to hire someone who was formerly a doctor to work on something, you will quickly see the value of that individual and his or her family. Regardless of the international protection system, they become part of the community quickly.

Currently, the separation and isolation are issues. For many generations, the Irish people have locked anyone we did not like or were uncertain about inside institutions, be those people with psychiatric issues or alcoholism, children with special needs, young people who got pregnant out of marriage etc. We locked them up and put them away so that we could ignore them and treat their children and family members poorly. The children of direct provision are suffering at the hands of that still. That is why opening up, airing it out and allowing people the opportunity to work and integrate in their communities would be my third wish. I hope that will start happening, given those processes are there. For example, Bank of Ireland now allows people in direct provision to have bank accounts, which should make it easier to work. Elements like that start to trickle down and should change matters quickly.

I believe I have covered the Deputy's points. If there was anything else, he might let me know.