Mr. Shane O'Connor:

I would be delighted to do so. I thank Deputy Clarke for the questions. If memory serves, the first question was on what interaction we have with victims of trauma and trafficking. A key part of our efforts to identify and deal with the vulnerabilities many people arriving on our shores come with is the introduction of a new vulnerability assessment process within the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS. This process has been rolled out on a pilot basis since the beginning of the year and is delivered to all applicants for international protection, regardless of whether they stay in IPAS accommodation or not. Its purpose is to determine whether vulnerabilities exist and if they do, what special measures need to be taken to ensure the needs of people with vulnerabilities are met.

I have some figures to hand on this. We have had 489 people participating in the vulnerability assessment of whom 207 have completed the vulnerability assessment process and 282 are still in it. That is the majority of all applicants coming into the State. Nobody has opted out of it, at this stage. Interestingly, of the 207 completed, 113 people have been identified as having some form of vulnerability. The range of vulnerabilities is quite broad. Under the reception conditions directive, a person who is pregnant and all minors are deemed vulnerable. However, a significant proportion of those, perhaps more than we expected when embarked on this new process, are presenting with some form of psychological issues or trauma-based behavioural issues and mental health difficulties. It is approximately half of those 113 people.

The scale of the task ahead of us in managing those issues for people is quite large and we have been working with our colleagues in the HSE for some time on developing pathways to services. The process involves an interview with an appropriately gender-based interviewer and, if deemed necessary based on the initial presentation of vulnerabilities, there is a follow-up session with social workers and they continue to monitor the progress of this person for the duration of his or her stay in IPAS accommodation, to case manage as needs be and to ensure appropriate referrals to HSE services are provided.

We also work quite closely with the Spiritan Asylum Services Initiative, Spirasi, for victims of torture and we have a referral mechanism for persons who clearly come from conflict areas and have been subjected to some form of psychological or physical torture. There are also linkages with other NGOs, such as the Peter McVerry Trust and the Jesuit refugee service, which provide psychosocial supports to applicants, not just upon arrival when they get some orientation but also in the quarantine and isolation centres we operate for people who have come into contact with Covid-19 or are close contacts. The Peter McVerry Trust provides psychosocial services on site. That is a model we hope to expand on across the entire network of accommodation, as part of a new procurement to secure independent living accommodation for all families and appropriate accommodation for all applicants, between now and the implementation of the new model under the White Paper.

I think I have covered that point. The Deputy asked how we communicate with grassroots organisations.