Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 September 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Direct Provision Policy and Related Matters: Discussion (Resumed)

Ms Sinéad Gibney:

I am happy to follow up on the transport issue. Perhaps Mr. O’Dwyer might elaborate further. To give the headline on our submission, as we said, the State was effectively in breach of EU obligations by not having vulnerability assessments until recently. This underpins what we have outlined as a principle that we believe should underpin our whole international protection system, namely, a trauma-informed approach. We are dealing with people who are coming to this country with significant trauma. Vulnerability assessments should be done on arrival and throughout their experience because that trauma plays out. We need to make sure that this is not only conducted in an appropriate reception centre as they arrive but that it continues to follow them throughout in order that services can be tailored specifically to their needs. As Mr. O’Dwyer has more detail, I invite him to contribute as well.

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