Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I want to return to the expenditure on direct provision. When we learn of problems in this area very often it emerges in the public arena or people make contact with us. We saw some very unsatisfactory cases this year, with one group of people having to move from one hotel to another owing to a Covid issue. These people were moved from a hotel in Dublin to a hotel in Kerry and there followed quite a large outbreak of the virus which drew attention to the facilities in this area. Another situation that emerged was also very unsatisfactory.

This committee monitors value for money. The Comptroller and Auditor General has done a paper for the committee on how we define value for money, which is more than just about the financial in that it is about good outcomes as well. Sometimes it is very difficult to figure out why something is so unsatisfactory. One situation emerged that was very unsatisfactory in terms of the length of time it took to be resolved. It is okay saying that people can engage with the ombudsman and so on but that takes time and people are living their lives, perhaps, in very overcrowded facilities. In some situations, there was no door on a room and, as such, no privacy. All of this information was in the public arena earlier this year. I do not understand why that took so long to resolve.