Dr. Fergal Lynch:

The issues the Chair raised go to the heart of the humanity of the system and we place a huge emphasis on getting these issues right. The suggestion that people would be treated inappropriately or inhumanely would be absolutely anathema to what we are about. We are certainly aware of the reports the Chair referred to. We investigated the report of food being offered in plastic bags or plastic containers very carefully and we found no evidence of it at all. I would stress that if any resident has a complaint of any sort relating to that or anything else, he or she has the absolute right to make a complaint and I strongly encourage him or her to do so. However, in that particular instance, we found no evidence. We reviewed video footage and discussed the matter locally with the centre provider and we were not in a position to find any evidence.

I am not familiar with the other issue about people being told to eat in their rooms. I know there was an issue at one stage in relation to Covid practises and Covid-related restrictions where it was necessary for residents to take certain precautions, but no more than the rest of us would have. However, if there are specific issues that residents or others want to raise about unsatisfactory or inappropriate practises in individual direct provision centres, we will be more than happy to investigate those.

On the deaths, I do not want to comment on individual cases. Where a death occurs, we provide significant support to family members and other residents in the facility. We have a particular reporting policy and we published a new policy earlier this year, which has been in place since June 2021. In it, we specify numbers of deaths and circumstances. However, we have to be very careful to respect the privacy of individuals and their families. Therefore, we are very careful about how we deal with individual cases and how we respond to queries about them. However, we publish details of them. It is important to acknowledge that the cause of death and the fact of the death need to be confirmed through the normal channels, through the coroner and so on, if that is required, rather than through our system. We wait until those appropriate provisions have been observed before recording them formally in the information that we publish. We publish information on deaths in direct provision but we lay a particular emphasis on the supports that we offer to the family of the deceased first and to other affected residents in the facility. This is very much part of basic humanity and it is something that we place a great emphasis on.