Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We can seek clarification on that.

Some 81,000 people are being provided with accommodation. It is a huge challenge. From the hearing we had with the Secretary General, Mr. Kevin McCarthy, and his senior staff, it seems the Department is being put under huge pressure in respect of all of this. I have some questions around it. A total of 59,000 people sought accommodation and another group of international protection applicants are in direct provision. What is the term in direct provision as well? Have officials examined the option of buying some of these buildings? At the moment, there seems to be a huge scramble. I know it is hard and they have to come up with the capital. I refer to trying to use middlemen, or whatever the term is, to arrange some buildings that are not in use, for example, old public houses, old guesthouses, convents, etc. I received a phone call from someone yesterday inquiring about all of this and seeing how they can get into the business of it. Was the option of the State purchasing some of these on a long-term basis considered?

Second, there is the delay in processing international protection applicants. I understand Ukrainians are a different category because many are here temporarily because of the war. It goes without saying that it is important that we help both groups of people. People who are genuinely fleeing terror, war and persecution need to be helped. We should ask the Department about some of the people in direct provision who seem to be there a long time. I am not clear as to the explanation why. If they have been accepted as having status here, we should be trying to integrate them in own-door accommodation and getting people into work and all of that. We have a situation now where a cohort of people is in direct provision and working, which is good, but we should be trying to move those people out of direct provision and into the community. That would free up space. If we do not free up space, we will continue to have the type of problems we have around the corner here with the reprehensible scenes at the weekend when people and the tents they were living in were attacked.

We should ask the Department to give us a table in simple times. I am trying to recall whether we got this. In respect of people in direct provision, there is a target of how long it takes to process their case and make a decision. Second, we should look for the number who are there between one and two years and, subsequent to that, the number who are in three to four years, four to five years, five to six years and so on. We should ask the Department for a detailed table like that and to give us an explanation as to why anybody would not have their case fully processed after two years. I would like an explanation for that. We know that there were only 47 staff. In terms of management, governance and financial management, if there were only 47 staff working on processing these applications, that would explain some of the reason this system is falling down. Certainly, we are not moving people along through the system. Then, a decision is made that those who can establish a case for international protection quite rightly are accepted. I was just informed that this question will probably have to the Department of Justice as well. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will be able to give us the figures of the time people are in the settings it is providing. We should look for that and, separately, we should ask the Department of Justice why anybody would wait longer than two years to have their cases settled. This is along with the information raised on the tables. The other question, of course, is whether consideration has been given to purchasing accommodation. The option of the State purchasing or providing some buildings directly was proposed in the Government discussion in a White Paper. What consideration is being given to that? We will note and publish-----