Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for appearing before the committee today. Their insight into the immigration system and the experience of migrants is invaluable for us. The State's approach to immigration is much more complicated and even more draconian than the average person realises. I hope that the witnesses and this committee can draw attention to those issues which I believe the Ministers and departmental officials can resolve fairly easily.

Further to Mr. Killoran's response to Deputy Bacik, I have a question for both Crosscare and the Immigrant Council of Ireland. A few weeks ago, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland explained how aspects of our immigration system were leaving individuals, including children, vulnerable to domestic violence and coercion. The way the system is set up facilitates it. The Immigrant Council of Ireland is scheduled to have an online discussion on the issue on Thursday. The witnesses from Crosscare mentioned it in their contributions. I ask the witnesses to outline for the committee some of the concerns they have in this area.

I will ask a few questions which can be answered if there is time and, if not, a written response would be great. Sr. Keenan and Mr. Neenan mentioned that Department of Social Protection services and supports need to be sensitised to migrant vulnerabilities. I ask them to elaborate on what this would involve and the importance of the changes. Their statement had a very worrying sentence about individuals and families needing housing and homelessness supports. It stated that non-EU migrants have the additional layer of immigration residency permission that can limit their ability to access social services. I ask them to explain the implications of that and what can be done to improve conditions for migrants.

Mr. Killoran highlighted the overly bureaucratic and paper-based nature of many of the immigration processes, the weaknesses of which were emphasised during the pandemic restrictions. I ask him to elaborate on the bureaucracy involved and reforms the Department of Justice could implement to help to resolve the situation as soon as possible.