Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before any other member comes back in, I have a few things I would like to bring up. As I said earlier, I was contacted about three quarters of an hour before this meeting. The Secretary General's opening statement mentions that current residents have a right to expect quality service and we must ensure that it is functioning to meet their needs during the transition period. I do not doubt that. I was horrified to receive reports about people in two direct provision centres being fed out of plastic bags. Meat and other food was being put into plastic bags and Styrofoam boxes. In one of the centres, the residents were told to eat in their rooms because there was not room in the dining area for them. I received these reports about two different centres. I quickly checked before I came in and one of the centres received €11 million in funding last year. I have no doubt that the Department is not treating people like that, but some of these centres' health and safety is out the window if these reports are true. That kind of treatment of any person or people is inhumane. Deputy Buckley spoke about the countries and situations people have come from. To think that some centres, which are making massive amounts of money, would treat any human being like that is disgraceful. Will the Secretary General comment on that if he can? Was he aware of that?

I was made aware of another death in a centre in the west of Ireland over the weekend. The venue is unknown, or I have not been told where it is. Apparently, this is the second such death in the last couple of weeks. I was horrified to hear that. Criticism has been laid at feet of the Government over the lack of transparency around deaths in direct provision centres. Previously, records were released each year on the number and nature of deaths of people seeking international protection. However, the Department of Justice stopped providing those details two years ago. Why was that change made? Why is the public no longer being made aware of the causes of deaths of people in direct provision centres?