Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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I will leave the lease issue until later on, and will take the Vote issue first. I was not going to refer to the asylum and immigration process but I will react because it is something with which I am familiar and deal with a lot. When the history of this period is written, we will look back at the institutionalisation of people for five or six years, whereby they suffer from mental health issues due to the boredom involved. They have €19 a week which barely gets them by and they have no activity. They are languishing and afraid in a nihilistic existence where they are constantly awaiting a letter to say they will be deported or are allowed to stay. That history will be damning for the Department and this State.

I accept that Mr. Purcell is implementing a policy decision. I heard him say it is a humane system which serves a purpose and fits in, but those are the type of things we said about the residential institutions and Magdalen laundries over the years. When we look back, it will be with severe scorn. I am not directing that criticism at the Secretary General personally, but I must react to the conversation that took place earlier. Is it true that the system of direct provision was initially introduced with a proviso that no one would stay in it for longer than six months?