Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Many of the questions I intended to ask have already been answered. The witnesses spoke earlier about staffing and recruitment. I see a huge challenge also in terms of communications and information. That has become a big issue within communities and for us as politicians. Mr. O'Sullivan said the Department has introduced a range of measures to deal with the increase in applications. In terms of staffing, what is the procedure as we go forward? I understand the €18 million allocation for the International Protection Office this year is being utilised to recruit a significant number of extra staff.

As we know, one of the biggest issues at the moment is that accommodation providers are not being paid. I will be raising this again in the next session. There have been huge challenges in that regard and we must be careful in our approach. I am very much of the mind that everybody is equal and we have to help people and do what we can to make sure they are comfortable and have access to a proper process. As I said, there are significant challenges in that regard. What could be done to improve the issues? There was reference to an increase of 186% in the numbers involved. That is challenging to everyone. This responsibility falls on all Departments, not just the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Again, staffing is a major issue. What measures do the witnesses see that could be achieved to improve the situation in regard to communications, information and staffing? What more needs to be done? As I said, a lot of my questions were already asked. I have highlighted the main concerns.