Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. I acknowledge the clarity and transparency he has brought to the whole conversation on immigration. One of the good developments that has happened under the Government is the moving of the responsibility for immigration back to the Department of justice. It has really assisted in the flow of movement of work. As a former Minister of State in the Department of children, I acknowledge the work of the officials there over the past number of years.

I want to focus on the issues of unaccompanied minors and trafficking of women. I have seen how some of the IPAS centres that are very small and bespoke, focusing specifically on women, have worked very successfully in rural areas. That has ensured people find shelter and comfort and, at the same time, get the opportunity to develop language and other skills and be supported in a focused way. It has worked really well. However, I am concerned as to exactly how we are supporting minors who could possibly find themselves in one of the IPAS centres, particularly the female ones. How are they being supported when issues arise? I have spoken previously about a young girl who was in University Hospital Galway for X number of weeks while they tried to get to the root of the matter, was it trafficking and what was the age of the young person. A whole debrief was done on her case. Can the Minister give me some clarity and comfort around that?