Mr. Peter Tyndall:

We are absolutely convinced that very many people within the direct provision system and in emergency accommodation are reluctant to complain. This is for a variety of reasons. They may also find it difficult to complain, which is a separate issue. First, many of the people do not have English as their first language. They do not necessarily have huge faith in the State because of their experiences. Many of these people are fleeing from very challenging circumstances and so gaining their trust is an issue. There is also an important concern in that people believe that complaining might have a negative impact on their application to remain in the country. When we are able to meet people in person we can address all those issues.

One final reason I want to pick up on is the lack of knowledge of the way one goes about making a complaint beyond the direct provision system. Although we make our information available, make sure it is displayed, that it is in a variety of the most common languages and so on, being at the centre and being able to talk to people is by far the best way to address their concerns. We can reassure them that their complaint will not impact on their application to remain. We work, often with the help of NGOs or others, or perhaps with other colleagues in my office, on being able to speak to them in a language in which they are more comfortable. It is the simple ease of access of having someone there. We do two kinds of regular outreach, one in respect of direct provision and the other where we simply have someone taking complaints in citizens' information centre offices in Cork, Limerick and Galway every month. We find there are many people, even people who are not at the disadvantage of being in direct provision, who prefer to simply come and talk to us. People come and talk to us in the office in Dublin too. With all the disadvantages of direct provision, clearly making oneself available is the best way to deal with it.

While Mr. Garvey is properly here in suit, collar and tie and Ms Joyce is dressed for committee, we try to dress informally when we go to the centres to be as unintimidating as possible and to make it easy for people to talk to us. We publicise the visits in advance. We have also been providing opportunities for people in emergency accommodation to come and talk to us. We work with NGOs, both national and local.

Yes, we have seen a fall-off in the number of complaints and I am absolutely convinced that it is not because there are not an equivalent number of complaints, although in our commentary we highlighted a couple of areas, particularly around people being able to prepare their own meals and so on, where we had many complaints which have been addressed in many centres. We would have expected some reduction in certain kinds of complaints.

We have had complaints specific to the current Covid pandemic but that is a different matter. I think our complaints will go up again once we are back on the road, which we hope will be in early autumn at latest.